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CHAPTER I 




The official Gazetlexa paper which ap- 
pears in Karlburg every Sktuyda^ brought i 
out, on the 18th of April, the'^^ioifewing^ 1 
notice : ^-O / ^ 

"After a most thorough and detailed 
examination, HisHighnessthePrinceHeredi- 
tary graduated from the Gymnasium. There 
were present, at his examination, His Serene 
Highness the reigning Prince, His Excellency 
the Secretary of State von Brandenburg, 
His Excellency Chief Councillor of State 
Baer, Councillor of Schools Dr. Finke, 
Directing Professor Schneidewind, and all 
the Professors of the Franz George Gym- 
nasium. In Greek, Latin, German, EngKsh 
and French, the Prince ranked No. 1; in 
mathematics and the natural sciences, No. 
2a; in rehgion, history and geography,^ 
Nos. 1 and 2. The whole certificate is 
No. 1, equal to 'Summa cum laude.' On 



Cc>i>i^lc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

May 1st, His Highness the Prince will enter 
the University of Heiddberg for one year. 
His Serene Highness appointed C. Juttner, 
Ph.D., as tutor and companion for His 
Highness. Dr. Juttner has been the tutor 
of His Highness for the past eight years, 
and has been rewarded with the title of 
Councillor of State in appreciation of the 
examination so splendidly passed." 

On the 30th of April, the day before 
leaving for Heidelberg, the new Coimcillor 
of State was commanded to appear before 
His Serene Highness, the reigning Prince. 
The Prince, a man old before his time, and 
with a gloomy face, was sitting before his 
large writing desk, and opposite to him 
sat the yoimg Prince. 

"Doctor, you know my views; I wish 
the scientific education of my nephew to be 
continued in the same serious manner as 
heretofore. After finishing his year at 
Heidelberg, the Prince will join the Hus- 
sars of the Royal Guard at Potsdam, but 
tmtil then, I want you to tmderstand that 
this year at the University must be spent 
in serious scientific studies, and not in 
seekiag for pleasure. The Prince will find 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

opportunities enough in Potsdam in con- 
nection with his comrades and equals, to 
become acquainted with a life of freedom. 
But tmtil then, I wish his studies and 
mode of Ufe to continue in the same 
regular course as heretofore. Have you 
imderstood me?" 

The little Doctor bowed so low that his 
Order, the Cross of Saxony, hung at right 
angles to his breast. Then, with another 
bow, he was dismissed. 

He went through the long, dark corridors 
to the right wing of the castle, where his 
two rooms adjoined those of the young 
Prince. A mouldy air, such as is found only 
in these old castles, filled the gloomy halls, 
and the April stm, shining sometimes 
through the flying rain clouds, found 
scarcely any room to creep in through the 
low bow windows. Servants were gliding 
like shadows through the dark halls, and 
only when their dim figures passed the 
windows did their liveries glitter for a 
second in red and gold. 

On the other side of the castle the cor- 
ridors were still darker, the walls thicker, 
the windows like loopholes, and the air 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

so thick that the Doctor could hardly 
breathe. He was a friend of good Munich 
beer, but this very beer had rewarded him 
badly for his friendship, for it had made 
him, especially in the last few months, so 
Stout that he suffered with asthma. 

" Heidelberg will do you good," said his 
friend Dr. Schneider, "there at least you 
can run about and climb mountains." 

"Yes, I think Heidelberg will do me 
good," he kept sighing for weeks. 

He was thirty-five, but he looked ten 
years older. 

"It was my misfortune," he often said, 
"that I came to Court. I was such a 
merry, joyous fellow, and what has be- 
come of me ! My ideals are destroyed, 
liberty has gone, and now my health is 
broken. They have suffocated me at the 
castle." 

His fiiiends laughed at him, and said : 

"Now, look at this doctor; he leads a 
life Uke a prince, and while other school- 
teachers are starving, he dines on the best, 
buys stocks and bonds, and wins decora- 
tions!" 

But he said sorrowfully : 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

" No, no, it is the truth they have suflFo- 
cated me up there." 

But now, at last, those terrible eight 
years were over. He sat down in his dress- 
coat and Orders, and drank his "Cusinier 
jaune." 

Two big trunks were standing packed 
before him, waiting only for his dress-suit; 
then the servant could take them away. 

Those two dear trunks! Symbols of 
liberty! 

And Heidelberg! To-morrow! 

No more of those tedious dinners, no 
more Secretaries of State and Court Cham- 
berlains, no more lackeys and coar^ — "- 
nothing more of this great, terrible 
where it is an impossibility to b 
properly ! 

But there is Karl Heinrich, who 
go with him. 

Karl Heinrich, the hereditary Prii 

"I could never have stood it if 
not been for that boy." 

Before him, on his desk, stood five 

photographs in beautiful frames, al 

cated to him : "To his respected tea 

Karl Heinrich." "To his very dear 

5 



byGooglc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

C. Juttner, Ph.D.— Karl Heinrich." "To 
his faithful mentor. — Karl Heinrich." 

The first picture shpwed a healthy look- 
ing boy in a riding suit, about twelve years 
old, with a pretty, open face, and large 
eyes like a girl's ; the others were of later 
years. The face had become thinner and 
more sedate looking, the curls were gone, 
the hair was cut short, in military fashion. 

He took these pictures in his hand, one 
after another, and, at the same moment, 
the past eight years passed before his eyes. 
Those years, with the same tedious daily 
repetition : dinners, bows, little work and 
very Httle pleasure, the envy of his col- 
leagues, many new dress-suits, many new 
white waist-coats, a high decoration, a 
great title, always sitting in carriages, 
always yawning, and, as a result of it all, 
fatty degeneration of the heart — ^the same 
disease from which the Strasbourg geese 
suffer ! 

"Go for a walk after dinner for two 
hours," that's what his friend preached to 
him every day; and now, looking at his 
watch, it was time to begin this tedious, 
dreaded task. 

6 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

But the poor Doctor did not find strength 
for this great hardship. "First, it may 
rain at any moment," so he thought, " and, 
again, it is absolutely of no use to tire 
myself out on the last day. This will all 
be changed when I am in Heidelberg; then 
I will run aU day long. I shall, perhaps, 
get my health back, if I am carefiil, and if 
I do not eat and drink too much, and do 
a lot of mountain climbing with Karl 
Heinrich." 

A nice fire was burning in the open fire- 
place and he felt very comfortable in his 
soft, easy chair, so he shut his tired eyes. 

When the Prince, about half an hour 
later, entered the Doctor's room, he found 
him snoring heavily. He smiled and cov- 
ered his knees, then he left him quietly. 

And the Doctor was dreaming that he 
had again become as thin and straight as 
he was fifteen years ago, when he walked 
into Heidelberg to begin his own studies. 

The express train stops in Karlburg only 
when the Prince or some high Court official 
wants to travel by it. 

Comingintothe open station, the lackeys 
opened the door of the Prince's waiting- 
7 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

room, and the reigning Prince, in General's 
uniform, leaning heavily on the arm of his 
nephew, stepped upon the platform. Twice 
he embraced him, and then the young 
Prince entered a reserved compartment. 

The doors of the other compartments, 
out of whose windows gazed the curious 
faces of the travellers, were shut. After a 
nod from the Court Chamberlain, the sta- 
tion-master gave a signal and the train 
began to move slowly. 

Karl Heinrich was standing at the win- 
dow, and, once more, bowed respectiully 
to his uncle, and, just as the train drew 
out of the station, his eye rested for a mo- 
ment upon a group of officers and equer- 
ries, and then upon some workmen, who 
were giving him a miUtary salute. A few 
seconds, and they were all out of sight. 
He sighed deeply. 

But he still remained at the window, 
while the Doctor was looking for his trav- 
elling cap. Karlburg disappeared, for a 
short distance the train ran through the 
Langhagen forest, then past Rotenberg and 
Hude and now— the Prince knew the spot 
well— the train passed the frontier. 
8 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

Once more he sighed deeply. Then he 
turned round to his companion, who was 
loofcingthroughatra-vellingbag. He smiled 
and said: "Are you looking already for 
the wine, Doctor?" 

"No, I have the bottle, but I cannot 
find the corkscrew. I am dying of thirst." 

For some time they talked about this 
and that, but as usual, the Doctor turned 
the couYcrsation to his own person. He 
took out of his pocket a yellow book, en- 
titled : "Nature's Own Cure for Stoutness 
and Fatty Degeneration of the Heart," 
and showed the Prince some passages 
marked in blue. 

"I am going to live, irom now on, ac- 
cording to this method. No more butter, 
no fat, no oil, no rice, no turnips, nor 
anything else that is forbidden. Please 
read this. It is going to be done in Heidel- 
berg, and that without fail." 

Karl Heinrich, who was as straight as 
a young tree, had studied all the other 
books about the Doctor's illness, so to 
please him, he began to read this one, 
with all its long and tedious recipes; "In 
the morning, a cup of coflFee or tea with 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

a little milk, and 75 grammes of bread. 
At noon, 100 grammes of soup, 200 
grammes of boiled beef, 25 grammes of 
bread. In the evening, two soft-boiled 
eggs," and so on. 

But, finally, it began to tire him. 

"This must stop, Doctor, at least for 
to-day, when we are on our way to Heidel- 
berg." He touched him on the shoulder. 
"Why, we two are alone and there is no 
one to annoy us ! I can scarcely believe 
that it is really so. I am going to throw 
the book out of the window, if you don't 
put it away." 

The Doctor smiled sadly: 

"You are right, Karl Heinrich," he said. 

But, curiously enough, the pleasure and 
joy of this day, to which he had been look- 
ing forward for weeks and months, would 
not come now. 

"It is too late, now," so he thought, 
"it ought to have been a year earlier. 
Karl Heinrich will have to bury me in 
Heidelberg." And, while the Prince was 
standing at the window, there rolled over 
the Doctor's fat cheeks, two tears, which 
he wiped away with the back of his hand. 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

"How quickly everything is passing," 
said the Prince, "it is marvellous. Just 
look here, Doctor; how it all flies past us. 
There is a stork! Here in this meadow, 
quick, look, come here!" 

The Doctor looked out to please him, 
but he saw no stork. To him the bird 
was without any interest whatever. 

"I could stand all day at the window, 
when everything is flying past. There are 
villages and hills, which I have never seen 
before. There, do you see that mill! Isn't 
it grand ! " 

Karl Heinrich was as excited as a child 
who makes his first railway journey. Only 
once in his Ufe had he taken a trip, when he 
went with his uncle to Dresden to pay a 
visit to the King, but that was years ago. 
Railways were seldom used in Karlburg, 
for in this Uttle princedom good horses 
are quicker and more convenient. 

And at aU the stations, strange faces — 
Enghshmen, officers, all pushing and hust- 
ling each other— with nothing of that quiet- 
ness and rest as at home in the castle of 
Karlburg. 

In Eisenach and Bebra, Herr Lutz, the 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

Prince's valet, came, with hat in hand, to 
the door of the compartment, to inquire 
after His Highness' wishes. He did this in 
such way as to attract the attention of all 
the other travellers, who stared hard at the 
Prince. 

Karl Heinrich said, with greater violence 
than was his custom : 

"Stop that, I won't have it. Stay in 
your compartment. I wish to travel with- 
out creating excitement." 

He wondered at his own audacity in 
speaking like that to Herr Lutz, for it 
really was audacity, as Herr Lutz had been, 
until now, second valet to His Serene High- 
ness, much respected by all Court officials, 
feared by the lower servants and made 
much of by all who came with petitions to 
the Prince. Much had been made of his 
appointment as valet to the young Prince, 
for it seemed like a position of confidence 
and trust, in which he should not alone be 
his servant, but where he should also watch 
over his mode of Ufe. 

Herr Lutz colored when he was thus ad- 
dressed, and, for a moment, seemed to lose 
self-possession; but he controlled himself. 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

bowed, and returned to his place in the 
train. 

But, two hours later, when they arrived 
in Frankfort, hungry and thirsty, and Lutz 
did not appear, the Prince grew impatient. 
What was he to do now? 

"Quite a simple affair," said the Doctor, 
"we will go ourselves." 

"We ourselves?" 

"Yes, we will go to the waiting-room, 
we have twenty minutes." 

" But " 

" What then? It is quite natural that we 
should go." 

"Very well, then." 

There was a large crowd at the 
and for some moments, the two 
separated. 

Somebody pushed from behind, i 
Karl Heinrich came right in front 
buffet; the next moment, somebody 
to him : 

"With what can I serve you, sir! 

He felt quite upset, and the youn 
an, a nice girl with coal-black eyes, 
impatient : 

" Please take something, there an 



scb^Gpot^lc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

waitmg. Do you want sausages or a cold 
cutlet?" 

Quite helpless, lie looked for tlie Doctor, 
then he took two fat sausages just wrapped 
up in paper. 

"Forty pfennig." 

He felt in one pocket, then in another, 
still in another — in none could he find any 
money. 

"Forty pfennig, sir." 

" Yes, yes*'— he was still looking for 
some money. 

People behind him crowded and pushed, 
calling for beer. He felt quite beside him- 
self. Never before had the Prince been 
in such a situation — in his left hand he 
held the sausages, and with his right he 
searched for money. He felt that he was 
becoming red with shame and embarrass- 
ment. 

The young woman felt pity for the hand- 
some young fellow, and said : 

"Take the sausages now and bring me 
the money afterwards." 

At last, the Doctor had been able to 
make his way through the cro'vd, and he 
paid. They then pushed their way back 
14 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

and sat down at an uncovered table, where 
they quickly swallowed the hot sausages. 

"Where are the gentlemen going to?" 
asked the porter, a big bell in his hand. 

"To Heidelberg." 

"Well, then, you have another quarter 
of an hour." 

"Here, take a glass of beer!" called the 
Doctor after him, taking three glasses from 
the tray of a waiter. The porter came 
back, thanked them, and said: "I drink to 
your health. Is the young gentleman a 
student in Heidelberg?" 

" You have guessed it," said the Doctor, 
who was now in fine humor. 

"Then I wish you a happy journey." 

"Thanks." 

The Prince sat there as in a dream. He 
took one of the Doctor's cigars and blew 
the smoke in the air. Two gentlemen came 
to their table and, without asking or bow- 
ing, sat down next to them. Nothing was 
done with ceremony, everybody came and 
went as he pleased, nobody troubled him- 
self about any one else. At the next table 
sat about a dozen young girls with a Sis- 
ter from a convent, all accompanying a 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

iriend to the station. The whole twelve 
seemed to have concentrated their attention 
on him — Karl Heinrich — but not with awe, 
like the young ladies of Karlburg, for they 
looked roguishly at him, smiled, and seemed 
to enjoy his embarrassment. 

"What life here," said the Doctor, "isn't 
it great?" 

And the Prince just nodded. 

Besides the dozen young girls, there was 
no one who took any notice of him. No- 
body troubled about him. A big, tall 
man pushed against his chair without 
apologizing. 

"Waiter," called the Doctor, "bring beer 
for two and be quick about it." 

Karl Heinrich looked timidly at his com- 
panion. It was wonderful how the Doctor 
found his way in this pandemonium. He 
hardly recognized him. It was as if he had 
been frozen in Karlburg and was now thaw- 
ing out. According to the medical books, 
he was not allowed to drink beer, and now, 
he drank two, three glasses, in ten minutes. 

The Doctor arose: 

"It is time. Frankfort is a fine town, 
we shall come over next week and enjoy 
i6 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

ourselves. It is not so far from Heidel- 
berg." 

While they were sitting in the train, the 
yoimg ladies came out of the waiting-room 
and promenaded up and down. When the 
train started, they all looked at him, and 
one of them took out her hEmdkerchief and 
called out : " Good-bye." 

"They are fine girls, these Rhenish girls," 
laughed the Doctor. "They have more 
life in them than our young ladies." 

Frankfort disappeared, and Karl Hein- 
rich again stood at the window, his hot 
forehead pressed against the cold glass. 

Girls — women — that was something new 
in his life. Educated in a -very strict and 
doister-like manner, without friends of his 
own age, and apart from everything that 
was not in the closest touch with Court 
life, he was also kept distant from every- 
thing called "woman." The reigning Prince 
was a widower, without children, and for 
years there had hardly been any festivals 
at Court; in fact, the Court at Karlburg 
was nothing but a bachelor household kept 
in great style. 

Twilight fell over the country, and when 
3 17 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

the train passed Darmstadt, the -villages of 
the Bergstrasse lay in the dark of the night. 

Here and there lights passed, and, some- 
where in the West, not an hour's distance, 
flowed the Rhine. The Rhine ! South Ger- 
many ! Over there, on the right, the moun- 
tains of the Odenwald, up to the present 
known only in geography, and now close 
by — ^near enough to touch them ! 

The train rapidly passed through the 
night. Farther and farther it carried Karl 
Heinrich away from the cold North; the 
joyless youth, the dark castle, and the 
winter lay behind him. 



byGOOQJC 



was now in fine humor. "I feel like a new 
man, after sucli a sleep." 

Herr Lutz, eternally with hat in hand, 
helped His Highness to alight from the 
compartment. Then he got out the bags 
and umbrellas and gave them to the Court 
courier, who had been for three days in 
Heidelberg to find quarters for His High- 
ness, to lease carriages and to do all that 
couriers, especially those who travel in 
advance, have to attend to. 

They all went — the courier as guide in 
front, followed by Herr Lutz— through the 
long station to where the carriages were 
waiting. 

The courier stopped at a nice landau 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

and opened the door, but, just as the 
Prince was stepping in, the Doctor held 
him back. 

"Let us walk, it is such a beautiful 
evening." 

The courier looked surprised at Herr 
Lutz; he, just as surprised, at the Prince; 
and Karl Heinrich, equally astonished, at 
the Doctor. 

"Walk?" 

"Yes, and why not?" 

"If you think so " 

"Where is the residence?" the Doctor 
asked of the courier. 

"Market Square, No. 18." 

"Very well." 

And the two actually walked through 
the town, leaving Herr Lutz, the courier 
and the carriage, behind in the dark. 

Karl Heinrich had never walked much, 
at least, not in the streets of a town. When 
he went through Karlburg or other small 
towns of Saxony-Karlburg, he generally 
went in a carriage, rarely on horseback, 
but never walking. It seemed to be an 
impossibility that the Prince or the heredi- 
tary Prince or other foreign Princes, should 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

ever touch the Karlburg payement with 
their boots. 

And why so? Not even the Lord Cham- 
berlain could have given an answer to 
this, but it seems that old custom had 
made it a law. 

Just as in the station at Frankfort, 
strange persons passed the Prince; he had 
to go out of his way, hke everybody else, 
and the cabs coming from the station 
through the narrow streets, passed him so 
closely that once he took hold of the Doc- 
tor's arm, actually frightened. 

"Why, they drive over one here!" 

"You have to look out," the Doctor 
said, dryly. 

The streets grew broader, and walking 
became easier. It was nearly ten o'clock, 
but the air was so warm, on thi^ 
May evening, that many people 
before their houses. Girls, without 
promenaded, arm in arm, up and dow 
smiling and sometimes Imighing aloud |; 
students, in great numb 
girls, nodded to them fsd 
lively crowd, full of southern 

Music was heard from 




vGooqIc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

crowd of men and bo3rs appeared, and with 
a large band and many torchlights, a 
procession of students passed the Prince. 

They marched two by two, on each side 
a torch-bearer, all looking very jolly, and 
laughing at all the girls they passed. 

"What is the matter?" asked the Doctor 
of a looker-on. 

"These are the Korps students, who are 
celebrating to-day their opening ' Kneipe.' " 

First came the YandaUans, in their red 
caps, with a golden ribbon representing the 
Baden colors; then the Saxo- Prussians, in 
white caps; afber these, the green West- 
phaUans, the yellow Suevians, the blue 
Rhenish and, at last, the dark blue Saxons, 
wearing little violet bouquets in their caps. 
The three presidents of each Korps were in 
full student's uniform : cerevis, velvet coats, 
white leather trousers, high black riding 
boots, and swords in their hands. 

More than one looked sharply at the 
Prince, who stood right in front and looked 
with wide-open eyes at the procession. 
This elegant looking young man was cer- 
tainly a new student— perhaps he could 
be won for their Korps. 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

The narrow street had been so crowded 
with noise and music, men and smoke, that 
it seemed now, after they had all gone, 
very quiet and lonely. 

"Well," said the Doctor, with a triumph- 
ant smile, as if he alone had arranged this 
all, "well, wasn't that fine?" 

"Grand!" 

"Such things as these happen every day 
in Heidelberg. They are always jolly." 

They went on, and, in a few minutes, 
just as the clock in the church tower struck 
ten, they found themselves at No. 18 Mar- 
ket Place. 

When they saw the house, they both 
hesitated for a moment, for, in spite of its 
broad and well-lighted vestibule, it did not 
look as the Prince— and perhaps the Doc- 
tor, also— had anticipated. On the left of 
the entrance was a barber shop, already 
closed ; on the right a large grocery busi- 
ness, where barrels of dill pickles, lentils 
and dried apples, blocked half the en- 
trance. 

The young clerks, and a fat servant girl, 
were curiously watching Herr Lutz, who 
had already arrived, and who, with a very 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

cross face, was excitedly talking to the 
ftightened Court courier. 

"It was the best apartment in the whole 
town of Heidelberg," said the courier just 
then, "the most expensive one in the town. 
There are eight rooms, Herr Lutz." 

But Herr Lutz impatiently kicked an 
empty petroleum barrel with his patent- 
leather shoe, and said : " You should have 
telegraphed this. Then we would not have 
left Karlburg, we would have waited a little, 
until proper quarters could have been se- 
cured." 

The Prince and the Doctor now came 
out of the shadow of the street into the 
light of the entrance : 

"Is this the right place, Lutz?" 

"I am sorry to say it is. Your High- 
ness." 

The poor courier became white as a 
sheet. 

" Have you looked at the rooms, Lutz?" 

"I have Your Highness. It is a very 
old house, impossible for Your Highness to 
live in." 

The Prince hesitated. This first day's 
journey, with all its new impressions and 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

new ideas, had already considerably shaken 
his views. He saw everything in a new 
light, but still, he was not yet able to 
correctly judge all the things surrounding 
him. 

Should he enter this house at all, or not? 
There was such a look of helplessness on 
his handsome and youthful face, that Herr 
Lutz believed he could win back all the 
prestige which he thought he had lost in 
the morning. 

"Would Your Highness prefer to go to 
the Prinz Carl Hotel? It is only a hun- 
dred yards from here and the trunks can 
be brought over at once." 

Here the Doctor spoke up : 

"Why not have a look at the apartment 
first?" 

The Prince nodded assent, and they 
entered the house. 

Herr Lutz had lost again. Until to-day 
this Doctor had been to him the most in- 
different of men. He was only a school- 
master, such a one as Princes want, a 
man whose position at Court counted for 
nothing, and whose influence, compared 
with that of a valet to the reigning Prince, 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

is as nothing. And now, this, to him ! 
The fat fellow took it into his head to 
treat him, Lutz, Uke a lackey! Why, he 
acted as if he had been the Prince himself! 

He ground his teeth: "I shall repay 
you for this!" 

The stone flooring in the vestibule had 
been freshly cleaned and was covered with 
white sand; in every comer of the stairs 
stood brightly burning lamps, both large 
and small; the strong bannister was so 
heavily covered with evergreens that it 
could not serve the purpose for which it 
was intended. Upstairs, they heard voices, 
the rustle of women's garments, a loud : 
"He is coming!" — then a closing of doors, 
and then, solemn silence. 

When the Prince, followed by his small 
suite and also by the clerks and the fat 
servant, arrived on the first landing, they . 
fotindvthree old women and a young girl, 
all bowing deeply to him and waiting to 
receive him. He recovered his self-possession 
at once, now, for he knew such receptions 
only too well. Again he was the Prince 
before whom everybody bows. 

The girl, with a bouquet of hlacs in her 

36 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

hand advanced a step and again made a 
deep reverence. Then looking, with her 
large brown eyes, straight into his, she 
said, in a clear voice, without fear : 

"Welcome to our Neckar valley, 
To the place to us so dear. 
To the dreams and joys of students 
And the life of freedom here. 
And as token of this welcome 
Lilacs now I bring to you, 
And I ask that later memories 
Shall be faithfiil, fond and true." 

"Please take it," and she offered the 
bouquet to him. 

. Karl Heinrich had been standing there 
like a statue, with his eyes and those of 
the girl fixed upon each other. One of the 
old women addressed him now, and said : 

"Will Your Highness do me the great 
honor to look at the rooms? I am Frau 
Dorffel." 

He nodded. He wanted to say something 
to her and to the girl also, but no words 
passed his Ups. 

Politely, with the large bouquet in his 
hand, he followed the old lady, who first 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

triumphantly showed him the sitting-rooms. 
"It is here," she said, "that Count von 
Bredow lived last year." Then his bedroom; 
then, further on, two nice Uttle rooms, "for 
the Doctor," and then a rather poorly 
furnished back room "for the servant." 
Herr Lutz, who followed two steps behind 
the Prince, turned as pale as a sheet. "Ser- 
vant ! " Why, that word sounded horrible. 

Karl Heinrich also seemed to feel the 
injustice of the term. 

"You mean the room for my valet?" 

"Yes, for him." 

The good woman had not yet finished : 
with lamp in hand, she showed Vtirn every 
room, "for one should become familiar 
with a new apartment," she said, and the 
Prince followed her obediently, still carry- 
ing the bouquet, and smiling only once. 
At last, they returned to the large sitting- 
room. 

A small table was covered with plates, 
beer bottles, wine caraflfes, bread and butter 
and cold meat. In the center stood a large 
cake, surrounded with ivy leaves, with 
three roses looking out of the hollow in it 
center. 

28 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

"Now, if Your Higliness would care to 
eat " 

"Yes, thank you." 

There was no farther talk of going to 
the hotel. 

"Now, you all get out of here!" called 
Frau Dorffel, for besides the Doctor, Lutz, 
the courier and the four women, there were 
the two clerks and the fat servant girl, 
who had accompanied them and who were 
now looking curiously at the arrangement 
of the table. 

" Does Your Highness wish for anything 
else?" 

"No, thank you." 

"Well, everything is there; fresh water, 
towels, candles, matches — Katie, see if there 
are any matches in the bedroom." 

The young girl went in and looked : 
"Yes, there are two boxes.' 

"Good-night, then, Your Highnesij^ 
hope you will sleep well after your 
)oumey, and that you will have pie; 
dreams." 

"Thank you." 

He took her fat hand and felt \ 
pressure on his own. The yij^ 
29 




GooqI^ 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

came up to him and wished him a good 
night's rest. 

Midnight. All was quiet, everyone was 
asleep, even Heir Lutz, who had for about 
an hour walked up and down in his little 
hole of a room, like a tiger in his cage. 
There was no wardrobe in this room, only 
a few hooks concealed by a cotton curtain. 
No mirror, no special washing table, and 
such a common iron bed, covered with 
figured caUco. 

"I am not going to sleep in that bed. 
I'd rather keep awake all night." 

As an only ornament, there was a picture 
of Saint Sebastian hanging over the bed. 
The Saint, though bound to a tree and 
pierced with many arrows, looked almost 
smilingly into the world. Herr Lutz found 
no pleasure in looking at this patient Saint. 
He was a man cast in a different mould. 
"Just wait until to-morrow," he thought, 
"just wait! I shall write to the Lord 
Chamberlain — no, I shall even write to his 
Serene Highness." 

A sandwich and a bottle of beer had 
been placed in his room. He would have 
preferred to throw them out of the window, 
30 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

but now he felt hungry and, sitting on the 
colored bed, he ate and drank his poor 
supper. 

Cheese! 

The tears nearly came into his eyes 
with rage. 

What would the lackeys in Karlburg 
have said, if they had seen him here, hke 
this ! He, Herr Lutz, who, every evening 
must have a good glass of claret and whose 
stomach had, for years, been so bad that 
the chef was in a continual worry how to 
satisfy him! 

If, in this hour, Herr Lutz had had his 
way, he would have blown Heidleberg into 
the air. He would have bound the courier 
before one cannon, the Doctor before an- 
other, and the woman too ! 

Herr Lutz did not think so cruelly about 
the Prince, but he hoped that Karl Hein- 
rich would himself feel the consequences of 
his haste and stupidity. "I bet he won't 
stay here ! " 

But, at last, all-comforting sleep brought 
peaceful dreams to the worn out Lutz. 

The Doctor lay heavily snoring. Indeed, 
under any circumstances, be it in carriage, 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

chair, railway or bed, he slept well — only 
too well for his thickening blood. 

Karl Heinrich was the only one still 
awake. He tried to sleep, but could not; 
this day had brought too many new things. 

He twisted and turned in his bed, which 
was as dainty as a lady's and, at last, he 
struck a hght and got up. 

It was a remarkable room, with furniture 
of olden times, chairs with high backs and 
thin legs, a sofa and, over that, a golden 
clock under a glass cover. 

On the window-sills were long red 
cushions, with embroidered covers, and the 
windows themselves were Dutch sash win- 
dows, composed of many little panes, and 
the Prince only discovered their working 
after a time. 

There was a curious, but not disagreeable 
smell in the room, partly of fresh linen 
£uid partly of apples. With hght in hand, 
he looked at the pictures : Paul and Vir- 
ginia, The Disturbed Wedding, Bismarck, 
The Spanish Dancer — Lola Montez, then 
again Paul and Virginia, a student's fight, 
and, all over the room, any number of 
students* photographs, all in the same 
32 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

cheap frames. Most of them had a dedi- 
cation: "To Frau Dorffel," — most likely 
pictures of those who had once lived therej 
Some of these pictures were only silhouettes, 
but the colors of the cap and of the sash 
were never omitted. Many of the pictures 
were old— 1848-9, 1853, 1854-5. Forgotten 
people, perhaps long since dead. They had 
all slept in the old oak bed, had all looked 
out of that window. An eternal coming 
and going, always new faces, new youth — 
always new youth. And now he was the 
new one ! Karl Heinrich ! The heir of all 
the others! Attentively he looked at one 
photograph after another— many of the 
names he knew — Karl Hohenlohe, Fursten- 
berg, Prinz Weimar, Bredow 

Then he opened the window and looked 
out on the market place, where, here and 
there, burned a gashght. The night was 
as warm as in July and he breathed the 
soft air deeply. 

From time to time, the music struck 
up in the Prince ' Karl Hotel, where the 
student festival was being held, and clearly, 
through the quiet night, could be heard 
the strong voices of the students : 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

*' O alte Bnrschenherrlichkeit." 

The stars shone brightly above the 
houses and only occasionally could he hear 
any footsteps on the streets. 

He was so tired that his eyes nearly 
closed, but, smiling, smiling as only one 
can who feels perfectly happy, he remained 
leaning at the window, until the first cocks 
crowed and until the eastern sky above 
the Neckar valley grew Ught. 



byGOOQJC 





-sl 




4 


"r^ 


\ 


^y-,- 


^-l 



w 



CHAPTER ni 



^'m 



^ 



"Come dj." 

"May I bring your breaMast?" 

It was the young girl of last night who 
entered the room. 

Karl Heinrich was still in his shirt- 
sleeves—he thought it was Herr Lutz who 
had knocked. For a moment, he was so 
surprised that he forgot to answer her 
amiable "Good morning." 

"Did Your Highness sleep well?" 

"Yes, thank you." 

"The bed is quite soft," she said, touch- 
ing the embroidered pillows, "but princes 
are accustomed to that." 

While she laid the table, he looked every- 
where for his coat, but could not find it; 
it was either in the next room, or Herr 
Lutz had taken it out. 

"Shall I pour the coffee?" 

"Yes, thank you." 

" One piece of sugar or two?" 

"One, please." 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

He was still looking for his coat. The 
whole situation was so new to him that 
he did not dare look at Katie. 

"What are you looking for?" 

"Nothing." 

"Won't you taste the coflfee?" 

She cut up the bread and put butter 
on it: "Here you are," she said. 

"Thank you." 

Her innocent actions made him quieter, 
so that, in spite of his shirt-sleeves, he 
sat down and began to eat. The girl leaned 
on an armchair and watched him. 

"Does it taste all right?" 

"Yes, thank you." 

He was so short in his answers that, 
for a moment, she herself felt embarrassed, 
but only for a moment. "He is a prince," 
she thought to herself, "and they are al- 
ways a Uttle bit tiresome." Otherwise, she 
was immensely pleased with him. What a 
fine waistcoat he had on, and the beautiful 
silk tie, and his face, — why, with his fair 
hair, he looked almost like an Englishman. 

The door opened and Herr Lutz entered, 
or, rather, he did not enter, but stood 
there, totally dumbfounded. 
36 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

The Prince in shirt-sleeves, taking his 
breakfast, and that impudent person look- 
ing on ! 

"Your Highness!" 

"What is the matter?" 

"The breakfast " 

"Well, what is it?" 

"The breakfast. I see Your Highness 
has it already?" 

"Yes, the young lady brought it." 

Karl Heinrich said this in a shghtly em- 
barrassed tone, for, naturally, it would 
hurt Herr Lutz to have strangers assume 
his rights and duties ; but Herr Lutz made 
such an oflFended, stupid, wicked and ar- 
rogant face, that the Prince l 
cross. 

"Leave the room! Wait o 
I call you ! " 

Herr Lutz stood there as i 
lightning. He had not heard 
could not be possible! 

But, at any rate, whether h< 
rightly or not, the pointing oi 
ness' hand was extremely clear, 
right to the corridor and there i 
to do but leave the room. 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

There he had to stand in the draughty 
corridor, over the floors of which the fat 
servant girl continually poured water. The 
only safe place was his horrible back room, 
but there he found Frau Dorffel, who was 
washing the floor. "Stay outside, I am 
cleaning here now." 

So up and down he walked, in his thin 
patent-leather shoes, on the wet floor be- 
fore the Prince's door, and waited. Either 
in the railway or last night, in that misera- 
ble bed, he must have caught a cold. He 
sneezed three times, six times, twenty times, 
again and again, and every time, the fat 
scrub woman wished hira "Your health, 
sir ! " 

"Wait until I call you," so the Prince 
had told him, but he did not think of do- 
ing so. 

And the girl didn't come out of the room, 
either. 

Herr Lutz placed his ear at the door 
and tried to Usten, but could hear their 
conversation but indistinctly. 

"This is scandalous," he thought, "it 
begins fine, and the first day, too ! " 

So he waited a quarter of an hour, a 
38 



sceyGoOqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

half hour, three quarters of an hour. At 
last he grew nearly desperate. The fat ser- 
vant had gone, everything was quiet, only 
the wreathed sign of "Welcome" laughed 
in his face. 

Karl Helnrich, stiU in his shirt-sleeves, 
was sitting in his armchair, smoking one 
cigarette after the other, and Hstening 
laughingly to Miss Katie's chatter. 

What a lot she had told him in this one 
hour ; that she was eighteen years old, that 
she came from Krems on the Donau, very 
far away, how many student Korps there 
were in Heidelberg and where they had 
their drinking places, the name of the rector, 
that the great poet Victor von Scheffel was 
then in Heidelberg, that next week there 
was to be a torchUght procession, that she 
had two of her best friends who became en- 
gaged on the same day, that wine was very 
dear this year, but good, and so on. Then 
she began to question him like a judge : 

"Have you ever been in Heidelberg be- 
fore?" 

"No." 

"Or in Tubingen?" 

"Nor there, either." 



byGoot^lc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

"Have you any brothers?" 

"No." 

"Or sisters?" 

"No." 

"Or parents?" 

"They are dead." 

"Oh! how terrible!" 

She looked at him with as much pity as 
If he had just come from the cemetery, but 
then it came to her mind that she fared no 
better. 

"My parents are also dead." 

"Oh!" 

And in spite of the bright sunshine and 
their former good humor, they looked at 
each other with the conventional expression 
of sorrow. 

"For Frau Dorflfel is only my aunt, 
or great-aunt. I am only here to help 
her." 

She had cleared the table more than half 
an hour before, but still held the tray in 
her hands, and, sitting on the arm of the 
easy chair, she looked very downhearted. 
Karl Heinrich silently looked at her. She 
really seemed quite foreign, so different from 
the blond girls in Karlburg. The face was 
40 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

brown, the curly hair very dark and the 
eyes jet black. There was something very 
graceful in her figure, and her whole appear- 
ance was almost gypsy-like. 

She shook herself, as if to put ofi" these 
sentimental feelings. 

"I don't like to go back to Austria. I 
always should like to stay in Heidelberg, 
it is so beautifal here." Before he could 
reply, she continued, with a quick change of 
thought : 

"Did you Uke that poem which I recited 
to you yesterday?" 

"Yes," he said, gallantly, "I found it 
beautiful." 

"No, it was not beautifiil." 

"No?" 

"I did not want to learn it by heart, 
at first, but aunt, Frau DorfFel, insisted 
upon it. Now, if you had looked diflferently 
when you came up-stairs, I would have 
given you the flowers, but would not have 
recited the poem." 

"Look difierently? How should I have 
looked diflferently?" 

"Well — so ," she colored up, "I don't 

know." 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

Laughingly he got up and came over to 
her. 

"Miss Katie, how did you want me to 

look?" 

He put his arm round her shoulder and 
bent close to her. For a few seconds they 
looked at each other, then he kissed her. 

His £rst kiss. 

The girl couldn't defend herself, for, in 
her hands, she held the tray with coffee- 
pot, butter-dish and cups; but, as he wanted 
to follow up the first with a second kiss, 
she stepped backwards. 

"No, no!" 

"Katie " 

"I won't have it! I won't have it!" 
She stamped her foot and for a moment 
she looked very angry. 

Then there came an awkward littie pause; 
she took the tray on her left arm, brushed 
back her black locks with her right hand, 
and said: 

"I want you to know, now and for 
always, that I have been engaged to be 
married for nearly a year." 

Karl Heinrich was very much embar- 
rassed, he felt very stupid. He was going 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

to say something, but could only stammer 
a few words. His first modest love affair 
was a total failure. Under those cir- 
cumstances, he imagined, perhaps, that he 
had committed an unpardonable crime, a 
shameful act, against this trustful, 
hearted girl; at any rate, his face s 
such repentance that she was angr 
herself, now, for having talked in s 
harsh manner to this handsome ; 
Prince. How charming he looked, w 
irightened red face. Why, he was really a 
darling ! 

To comfort him, she said : 

"Well, one can call it an engagement. 
But Franzl must wait a long time yet for 
the wedding. He wants it badly enough, 
but I will not have it. Do you think I 
talk with a strong Austrian accent?" 

' ' Austrian accent ? " he didn't under- 
stand what she wanted ; this jumping from 
one subject to another eatirely confused 
him. 

" I have lost my Austrian accent because 
I don't like it, and because Franzl talks 
Hke that. He is a Viennese." 

"Bideedl" 



byGooqlc 



)LD HEIDELBERG 

u think that he lived here in 

inrich had really not thought 
i at all, because it had all 
been too quick for him, but, to reply, he 
said; 

"Yes, I thought so." 

Katie laughed, as if he had made an ex- 
cellent joke, she had to set the tray down 
on the table, for her violent laughter endan- 
gered the cups. "Franzl has never been 
out of Vienna in his life, except to Hun- ^ 
garia. He is such an awfully slow fellow. 
Do you know what he does? He deals in 
horses." 

"In what?" 

"He buys horses for cabs, in which pur- 
suit he is clever. Some time ago, he 
brought two snow-white horses from Hun- 
garia, which he sold afterwards to Coimt 
Nicky Esterhazy." 

"But " 

"Look here, this is Franzl." She turned 
round and took out of her dress a small 
photograph, which had lain on a very warm 
place over her heart. 

He looked at the picture and Katie's 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

head bent over his arm so that she might 
also have a view of it. 

"Isn't he handsome?" 

"Very!" 

"The moustache is the best, isn't it?" 

"Yes, indeed!" 

Franzl had had the photograph taken 
in full dress, a rose in his buttonhole, a 
top hat with a flat brim, a little on one 
side of his head, a long, thin Virginia cigar 
in his mouth, and in his extremely large, 
gloved hand, a whip mounted with a silver 
horse's head. 

Doesn't he look smart?" 

"Hm!" 

"And still, I won't have him." 

He looked very much surprisec 

"First, he might easily be my 

for on Peter and Paul's day he 

thirty-two, and, secondly, I am m 

to Vienna, — I don't like it." 

" But " 

"It's this way. Great-aunt 
brother was Franzl's father and my 
was cousin to Franzl's father. The; 
said, even when I was quite smal 
should marry him. Last St. Joha 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

wrote to ask me if I would, and they all 
said I should. Then I said 'Yes,' but I 
also said : 'Not directly, for I want to wait 
a little while.' " 

She took the picture and looked at it 
pensively. 

"He is really a good fellow. Look at 
his eyes?" 

Karl Heinrich grew first hot and then 
cold, with all her talking. She was stand* 
ing so close to him that her dark locks 
touched his shoulder, and, speaking quickly 
and excitedly, her young breast rose and 
fell under her close-fitting waist. 

"Well, everybody has to marry. Isn't 
that so? And I can't stay forever in Heid- 
elberg, can I?" 

"No." 

She put her hand to her eyes to wipe 
something away, then she laid Franzl's 
photograph among the dishes, sighed deeply 
and took up the tray again. 

"I must go, now." 

She wanted to pass him, but he held her 
just a moment and— he could not help it- 
gave her a second kiss. In the first mo- 
ment, it was a rather frightened kiss, b^- 
46 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

ging for forgiveness, but when the red, 
warm mouth did not draw back, he pressed 
his lips more firmly, more closely and more 
warmly to hers. 

"Katie!" 

Both were breathing hard. For a mo- 
ment, he released his hold and drew back 
his head to look into her face. Then he 
kissed her again and again, until a shiver 
ran over her and she silently released her- 
sdf from his embrace. 

"No more " 

"Sweet Katie!" 

"And what is your name?" 

"I? I am called Karl Heinrich." 

"Two names?" 

"Yes." 

"Karl — Heinrich — that sounds so 
strange." Then suddenly she passionately 
threw her arms round his neck : 

"Karl Heinrich!" 

Herr Lutz jumped away from the door 
when it suddenly opened, but without look- 
ing at him, the girl, with red cheeks, passed 
across the corridor. He looked at his gold 
watch: "An hour and a half!" 

About ten minutes later, when he finished 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

dressing his master, he had great fun watch- 
ing how His Highness tried hard to appear 
unconcerned. 

"How is the weather, Lutz?" 

"Fine, Your Highness." 

"Isn't to-day Wednesday?" 

"Yes, Your Highness." 

All unnecessary questions, only put by 
those who, for some reason, feel guilty. 
And if anyone could see through His High- 
ness, it was Herr Lutz. He knew these 
high people well, who never have the cour- 
age to own up to their stupid actions and 
who like to hide everything even from their 
own valets. Small, weak characters, with- 
out any energy. 

Hereditary princes are not Uke reigning 
princes, their outside position is in many 
cases almost void. It happens a thousand 
times that hereditary princes never occupy 
the throne. To count upon them as a 
certainty is about equal to playing in a 
lottery. 

"No," Herr Lutz said to himself, "I 

don't care for Heidelberg. I shall return to 

Karlburg, for one who, like me, has His 

Serene Highness' confidence, need not be a 

48 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

lackey. His Serene Highness is fifty-six 
years old, and may reach eighty. By that 
time, I can save enough to laugh at all 
hereditary princes," 

And, while brushing his new master, he 
thought : 

"Wait until I return to Karlburg and 
*ell my stories. They will open their eyes 
then." 

The Prince seemed to have gotten over 
his embarrassment very quickly: "Hurry 
up, Lutz, and go out and see if the Doctor 
is ready." 

With a very wry face, Herr Lutz came 
back: 

"The Doctor was still in bed, but is get- 
ting dressed now." 

" How the dickens is this possible ! Why, 
it is twelve o'clock!" 

Laughingly the Prince went across the 
corridor, nodded to Katie, who was stand- 
ing in the kitchen door smiling at him, and 
hammered with his fist on the Doctor's 
door. 

"Doctor, Doctor, why, it's noon!" 

"All right, I shall be ready in five min- 
utes." 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

The Prince waited before the Doctor's 
door, still looking at Katie, who, curiously 
enough, suddenly seemed to find various 
things in the corridor to attend to. At 
last the Doctor appeared, dressed very 
hurriedly. 

"One moment, Lutz! Where is Lutz! 
Lutz, come here and help me. First, pull 
this tie down in the back— that's it. One 
moment. Brush my coat, Lutz, and then 
go and get me some coflfee." 

"We will go for a ride," said Karl Hein- 
rich, who, putting on his gloves, was still 
flirting with Katie. 

"We will walk, not ride." 

"Very well, then." 

And Lutz pulled down his tie, brushed 
his clothes and fetched the coffee. He did 
all this with the gentle quietness of his 
standing, but, inwardly, he was boiling. 
Why, this was beating everything, the im- 
pudence of this schoolmaster ! To treat him 
as a servant, as a lackey for everyone! 
" Brush my things off, go and fetch coffee ! " 
Why couldn't the noble sir brush his coat 
himself! Herr Lutz was nowtrembhngwith 
excitement. 

so 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

The duties and rights of a princely valet 
are just as strongly fixed as those of a high 
State official. He has only to look after 
the personal wants of his master, and has 
nothing to do with coarser work — absolutely 
nothing. The difference between a valet and 
an ordinary lackey is not to be mentioned 
in the same breath. The one is an artist, 
the other an artisan. Herr Lutz fetching 
coffee for a schoolmaster ! It was some- 
thing laughable, or, rather, it wasn't any 
laughing matter at all. And Karl Hein- 
rich suffered this! Instead of saying: 
"Doctor, I wish to draw your attention to 
the fact that Herr Lutz receives his orders 
from me personally," His Highness only 
stood there quietly and watched Lutz as he 
brushed. It only remained for the school- 
master to say to him: "Clean ray boots." 
If he had only said it! Something awfiil 
would have happened. 

The Doctor took his new top hat and, 
though it was warm, for variety's sake he 
put on his elegant new Spring overcoat, 
and looked altogether like a very well 
groomed gentleman. But, seen by the side 
of Karl Heinrich, he cut a sad figure, not- 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

withstanding. The one, tall, straight and 
youthfiil-looking, the other, small and very 
£at. A casual observer would have won- 
dered what could ever have brought them 
together. 

They had to feel their way down the 
stairs, on account of the darkness, and, 
in the vestibule, they passed between rows 
of cases ; but when they stood before the 
door, there was glorious sunlight. 

"Then we really won't take a carriage, 
Doctor?" 

"Oh, no! On such a beautiful day as 
this, we will walk to the castle." 

Even to-day, Karl Heinrich could not feel 
at home while walking. It seemed to him 
so singular to be walking in broad daylight 
through the streets, and to have neither 
carriage nor servant following. He felt like 
those over-nervous people who fear the 
traffic of the streets and lose all security 
while crossing a square. It was fortunate 
for him that he had the Doctor for a com- 
panion. 

" What beautifid weather ! " said the Doc- 
tor, "why, it's reaHy hot. To-day I feel 
like a human being." He looked all the 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

girls who passed him, in the face, and 
quietly he thought : " Who knows what this 
Heidelberg may do for me yet. Perhaps in 
my old days I may make a new resolution. 
My God, if I could only love again, a real, 
true love " 

They made slow progress, for Karl Hein- 
rich stood before every shop and, Uke a 
curious child, looked into every window. 
There were lots of things he had never seen 
before, and which the Doctor had to explain 
to him. Suddenly it overcame him Uke a 
child: 

"Let's go inside and buy something." 

"Buy what?" asked the Doctor, sur- 
prised. 

"That doesn't matter. I just want to 
buy something." 

And so they bought : two silk ties, gl| 
penholders and pens. Ink, writing pX 
visiting cards, an elegant writing 
which Karl Heinrich presented to the Do& 
tor, and, at last, for six marks, 
bracelet with little coins { 

"For whom is this?" 

"For ^Ess Katie." 

"What Katie?" 




ooqIc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

"The one who recited the poem yester- 
day." 

"Is her name Katie?" 

"Yes, she is called Katie." 

And now, for the first time, it entered 
the Doctor's head that he had slept the 
whole forenoon. He merely coughed and 
looked at the Prince sideways; that was a 
good beginning. 

"Well, he is right," he thought to him- 
self, "youth is youth. If only I were twenty 
again!" 

Everything on the mountain was in fiill 
bloom, and, as they cUmbed up, the slowly 
receding city presented a magnificent pic- 
ture. The bright sun shone on all the 
slated roofs, over there was the Oden For- 
est, in hght May green, and, now, they see 
a long silver ribbon, which shone brightly 
on the other side of the city. 

The Neckar ! 

They both said it in one breath: "The 
Neckar ! " 

Then they stood still for a while, look- 
ing up and down the river. 

The Neckar! Coming from Suevia, the, 
home of Schiller and Uhland, the Suevia of 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

the Hohenstau&n emperors. It flows past 
the old fortress of Tubingen, to Eeutlingen, 
to Stuttgart, through Heilbronn, passes 
the castle of old Berlichingen, and on 
through a country whose very soil breathes 
history and poetry. 

And, at last, the Neckar reaches Heidel- 
berg, spreading out in the distant, level 
plain of the Rhine. The river does not end 
in Mannheim, as the geographies teach — 
no ! it ends in Heidelberg. It ends as no 
other German river does : in a fairy tale 
of beauty. 

Quickly they climbed up farther, and, 
through the old portal of red sandstone, 
they entered the castle garden. 

A few guides stood at the entrance, but 
inside, amongst the old ivy-covered trees, 
everything was quiet. During the noon 
hour the strangers were at their hotels, 
the students, at the same hour, were in the 
town drinking their " Fruhschoppen" and 
the Heidelbergers themselves have no time 
to stand around. 

A squirrel was chmbing through the 
ivy, otherwise everything was quiet. And 
silently they went ferther, over the bridge 
55 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

in the castleyard, and on the gallery, 
and, coming back, they passed the ruined 
tower. 

Sometimes the Doctor spoke a few words, 
but the Prince answered in monosyllables, 
or only nodded. 

After some time, in which the Doctor 
made the firm resolution to come up every 
day, to cure his asthma, Karl Heinrich 
said : 

"We will take a bottle of wine. Do you 
care to?" 

"Yes," the Doctor answered. 

"Will you have a cigar?" 

"Yes, thank you." 

So they sat imder the green roof of the 
old trees and drank and smoked. They 
spoke a little about the castle and the 
beautiful day, and then both again relapsed 
into silence. 

The sun, just shining through the leaves, 
the great silence, the wine and cigar, the 
long walk — all this made the Doctor very 
sleepy. He tried to resist the influence, but, 
with a great efibrt, he only succeeded twice ; 
the third time his eyeUds could resist no 
longer, and opened no more. 
S6 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

Karl Heiurich, receiving no answer to a 
question, noticed after a wHle that his 
companion had dozed off once more. 

He smiled. He wasn't angry with him — 
no, quite the reverse. He leaned forward 
in his chair, his elbow on the table and his 
head on his hand. Had he ever been so 
happy in his life before? No, never. A 
thousand impressions had entered into his 
life, both yesterday and to-day, but no 
dissonance had come, everything sounded 
harmonious in one happy accord. Katie, 
liberty, Heidelberg, the Neckar, the castle, 
Spring, the golden future — ^a stream of joy 
and pleasure! 

Katie ! He took the silver bracelet and 
let it glitter in the sunshine. Will she be 
pleased with it? Shall he buy her a better 
one? He put it round his wrist and did 
not take it off again. It seemed to him as 
if Katie had already worn it, as if it was 
almost a part of her, something to grasp 
which brought her closer to him. 

Suddenly, in this quiet noon hour, a 
tremendous noise was heard; twelve stu- 
dents, with dark-blue caps, came through 
the garden, called for the waiter, ordered 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

beer and, with the addition of three large 
dogs, they made such a racket that even 
the Doctor moved and seemed about to 
awake. 

" Kellermann ! " 

"Yes, sir." 

"Kellermann, hurry up the beer!" 

"All right, sir." 

"Kellermann!" 

"Well, sir?" 

"Tell the waiter to bring the bill of 
fare ! " 

"All right, sir." 

" Kellermann ! " 

"Well, sir?" 

"Tell him to bring cigars!" 

"All right, sir." 

Without hurrying particularly, Kel- 
lerman passed Karl Heinrich, went into the 
inn, and appeared, after a little while, as 
an assistant to the waiter carrying beer 



"Kellermann!" 
"Well, sir?" 

"That dog is running over the flower- 
beds ; go and catch him I " 
"All right, sir." 

58 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

But Kellermann did not catch the dog, 
he only whistled. In a very husky voice, he 
called a few times: "Here, come here!" 
and when this failed, he simply stopped. 

" Kellermann ! " 

"Well, sir?" 

"Go and get three postal cards!" 

"All right, sir." 

He passed Karl Heinrich for the second 
time, and the latter now watched him more 
closely. He wore a kind of uniform and a 
porter's cap of dark-blue color, his exter- 
ior appearance showed him to be a servant, 
but never — at least, not to Karl Heinrich's 
well-trained perceptions — could any one re- 
semble a servant less than did this man. 
He seemed to run at a little trot, but with- 
out getting on more quickly than other 
people who walk quickly, his nose was blue 
and his moustache, in contrast with other/ 
smooth-shaven servants, was drooj 
The eyes looked sad, — ^they seemed 
look straight ahead and to see nothinj 
right or left. Nor did he look %t. t 
Heinrich as he trotted twice quitf 
past him. 

"What a remarkable perso^^ 
59 




byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

the Prince, but, naturally, Ids attention 
was drawn more toward the students. 

They sat so far away that he could hear 
nothing but their laughter and when they 
called for Kellermann ; still, he could watch 
them. They all wore caps and sashes in the 
Saxon colors, which was all that showed 
them to be students. There was nothing 
in their dress to remind one of the old 
traditional student figures as they appeared 
at that time— end of the seventies— either in 
books or on the stage. No old-fashioned 
velvet coats, no high boots and no tobacco 
pipes— no, they were smart-looking boys, 
who seemed to enjoy themselves immensely. 

In spite of the early hour, they drank 
great quantities of beer. It was amusing 
and interesting to watch them. 

Something stirred in the Prince a long- 
ing, an unfamihar feeling of loneliness. He 
looked at the fat Doctor, who, while asleep, 
seemed suddenly to have grown quite old. 
The Doctor was certainly a good fellow, 
with whom Karl Heinrich had been on the 
very best of terms for a number of years. 
Why, this Doctor had been the first and 
only one who, in the sticky atmosphere of 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

the Karlburg castle, had brought fresh, 
new life, and some joy, into the Prince's 
cold youth, but 

In that hour, Karl Heinrich understood ! 
Understood that those at home in Karlburg 
had cheated him out of his whole youth ! 
Servants to play with him, servants with 
whom to ride, servants year after year, from 
morning till night, always those who were 
paid for their services ! 

Until yesterday he had been blind ! He 
had known nothing of life, absolutely noth- 
ing! He had been a prisoner in a golden 
cage, with no more freedom than an ani- 
mal waiting to be slaughtered. 

A tall, handsome-looking student passed 
him. 

" Come along, Kellerman, we will make a 
Rhine wine cup." 

"Very well, sir." 

The Prince looked after him with tired, 
heavy eyes. It would always remain so, 
as long as he lived ! 

Suddenly, the waiter came running along 
and touched the astonished Prince on the 
shoulder. 

" Just look there, sir ! Look at the gen- 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

tleman who is coming in alone ; that's Herr 
von Schefiel." 

"Where?" 

"There, sir, there!" 

' ' Doctor ! ' ' Karl Heinrich shook the 
sleeper. "Wake up, wake up!" 

"What! What!" 

"Schefifel is coming. Do wake up!" 

"Yes, yes." 

This was Sheffel, he who had written 
Ekkehard and the Rodenstein songs! 

In the meantime, the waiter had run over 
to the students to tell them, creating a 
sensation at the long table. Herr von 
SchefFel came very rarely to his beloved 
Heidelberg and some of the younger stu- 
dents had never seen him. 

There he came! 

One of the students called to the others 
and, then all of them, stood up and sang : 

-, ^"'Wohlauf, die Luft geht rrisch und rein 
/*-<*j .-a-t^^ "^^ Wer lange sitzt muss rosten ! 
-->'/ x,^,,.,.**^ fen allersonnigsten Sonnenschein 
Lasst uns dw^Himmel kosten— " 

This merry song of woods and fields 
was sung to its author with so much ani- 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

mation, such animation as is only possible 
to youth on a perfect spring day, in honor 
of the darling of Heidelberg. 

He smiled, and, as the twelve blue caps 
of the Korps students saluted him, he took 
oflF his own hat, and passed on. 

Karl Heinrich followed the example of 
the others. He took off his hat and bowed 
deeply. The poet also smiled at him and 
returned his salute. 

Slowly he went on, until, at last, he dis- 
appeared among the trees of the park. For 
some time the words of the song followed 
him, until they ended joyfully : 

"Hallaho; die Pforten brech' ich ein 
Und nehme, was ich finde. 
Du heiliger Yeit von Staffelstein, 
Verzeih' mir Durst und Siinde." 

" Cantus ex est ! Hurrah for the poet ! " 
The glasses clattered on the table. 
« « « « « 

It was five o'clock in the afternoon when 
the head-waiter in the Hotel Prinz Carl 
served the dessert to His Highness and the 
Doctor. 

Both were tired and very quiet. The 
63 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

curious glances of the hotel guests, the 
servile waiters, the long, monotonous din- 
ner — all this, after the earlier hours of the 
day, seemed so tedious that they brought a 
return of the old Karlburg "ennui." The 
first intoxication of Kberty had passed for 
both, 

A waiter came in, with a visiting card, 
and, giving it to the Doctor, said : 

"The gentleman is outside, and asks if 
it is possible to see you for a moment." 

"See me?" The Doctor was surprised 
and looked at the card : Conrad von Gra- 
benitz, student at law. "Who is it? I 
don't know him. What does the gentle- 
man want?" 

"He asks if he may speak to vou for a 
moment." 

"WeU!" 

"You might ask him what he wants. 
Doctor," Karl Heinrich said, quietly. 

"Very well, tell the gentleman that I 
am coming." 

The Doctor got up, a little out of sorts. 

Unlike other people, he was always in a bad 

humor after dinner, because he knew wdl 

enough that, as usual, he had eaten too 

64 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

much. He found the gentleman in the smok- 
ing-room, a smart-looking young man, 
whose face was scarred in a number of 
places. 

"My name is Doctor Juttner." 

"Von Grabenitz." 

"Please take a seat." 

"I took the liberty of presenting myself 
at your rooms, but was told I would find 
you here." 

"WeU!" 

"I want to ask the favor of an intro- 
duction to His Highness." 

"The hereditary Prince?" 

"If you will be kind enough." 

"And why, may I ask, why?" 

"I would Uke to ask His Highness if 
he would honor my Korps to-night with 
his presence. We celebrate the opening of 
the term with a great 'Kneipe.'" 

Aha ! The Doctor smiled. He ought to 
have thought of that before. There is 
nothing more important, in the beginning 
of the University year, than the pledging 
of new members for the different student 
Korps. And to catch "a Prince! Why, 
that would be a pretty job ! What would 
S 6s 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

they say in Karlburg, if Karl Heinrich, 
the hereditary Prince, should become a 
member of a student's organization. Well, 
the Prussian Princes and even the Crown 
Prince in Bonn do so, but Berlin is by no 
means Karlburg. There was no doubt 
that the reigning Prince would not like it, 
and he, the Doctor, would, of necessity, 
bear all the blame. He was not sent to 
Heidelberg to enjoy himself, but to give 
the proper guidance to an inexperienced 
young Prince. He saw the faces of the 
Karlburg courtiers when such news should 
arrive there, the apoplectic features of the 
Lord Chamberlain, the expression of Herr 
von Baltz, all looking with horror, disgust 
and fear at His Serene Highness. 

But Karl Heinrich ! 

How the boy would thaw out at last ! 
He would become human, Hke others ! 
What did the Doctor care, any way, for the 
disgrace. In a year, Karl Heinrich's edu- 
cation would be finished and then— well, 
he would have to turn to something else. 
And how fine it would be to play a trick 
on those old Karlburg fogies ! Of course, 
he would never receive the first Cross of 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

Saxony, he would never become a Secret 
Councillor of State, would never again be 
invited to Court— but, what did that matter 
to him! 

Karl Heinz, once his little Karl Heinz — 
the boy who hardly dared to breathe at 
home ! His dearest Karl Heinz ! For him ! I 

He got up : 

"WUl you follow me, please?" 

And, firm and serene, as if it were a 
mere nothing, the Doctor stepped over the 
threshold of the dining-room, his rubicon, 
forever shutting off from him the possibility 
of beautiiul Orders and high titles. 



byGooqlc 



brotlier-in-law of Frau Dorffel and was, 
therefore, somewhat distantly related to 
Katie. 

There were certainly better restaurants 
in Heidelberg than the one belonging to 
Joseph Ruder, but there was something 
restful in the old place. If you wanted to 
go into the garden, you first had to find 
your way through the poorly built house, 
and the ceiling was so low that the tall 
Prussian noblemen, who were members of 
the Saxo-Borrussia, had to be carefiJ not 
to bump their heads. 

But, when the garden was reached, every- 
thing was beautiful. You sat under the 
old lime trees, right on the bank of the 
Neckar. Opposite you was Heidelberg, 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

with the castle. You drank Joseph Ruder's 
good, unadulterated wine and you enjoyed 
life. 

You were also pleased with the sweetest 
little waitress, who served you the wine. 
It often happens that restaurants change 
their character, from time to time, and 
Ruder's was no exception. It had originally 
been an ordinary sailor's place. Then old 
ladies of good families, with their young 
daughters, discovered the garden to be a 
quiet retreat, where, far from the madden- 
ing crowd, they could take their afternoon 
coffee, until, one day, the students found 
out the place and made an end of this 
idyll. 

They came in the afternoon and stayed 
until late at night. Every day, they made 
the same old racket and forced their big 
Danes to jump into the Neckar. 
drank more in a month than Joseph 
formerly sold in years; and in three 
they had smoked the poor old ladies 
of the place, so that they never came 

Frau Ruder and Frau Dorffel, as weU , 

Fran Ruder's two sisters— all elderly ladiejB 

said, very often, that it had been quiewr"' 

69 




byGooQie 



r 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

and more comfortable formerly, even if 
they had not made the money they were 
making now. But all four were convinced 
of one thing, and that was, that this change 
had brought one disadvantage, the change 
in Katie's conduct. 

When she was seventeen, she had always 
served the old ladies very quietly and nicely 
with their coflfee; she had even then been 
a pretty headstrong girl, but it was not so 
difficult to bring her to her senses. But 
from the day the students came, nothing 
could be done with the girl. The old women 
often talked to her and told her not to be 
such a madcap and to have more respect for 
herself. She would patiently do some knit- 
ting in the kitchen, and let them talk, talk, 
talk. A few times, she had tried to con- 
tradict them and to tell them that she did 
nothing wrong, and that, when serving the 
young men with wine, she could not act like 
a stupid country girl; but the four women 
had so much to say that, finally, she never 
said a word in answer. She would sit 
quietly and patiently, like one who is shut 
in by a storm and who waits for the sun 
to come out. 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

But, when the students came and called : 
"Katie! Come here, Katie!" she became 
totally changed. The knitting would be 
thrown on the table and, in the next mo- 
ment, she would run so quickly through 
the house that her short skirts, flying 
about her, would reveal her neat little 
ankles. 

"Beer, Katie!" 

"I am coming. How many? Five, six, 
seven, how many are you? Eight! Sit 
down there, near the river, and I will set 
the table." 

And the greater the crowd in the gar- 
den, the faster she ran. In both hands she 
carried the large steins, and when, from 
everywhere, they shouted: 

"Katie, bill of fare!" 

"Beer, Katie!" 

"Come here, Katie!" 

She would laugh and show her white 
teeth between her red lips : 

"I am coming! Don't make such a 
fuss!" 

She hurried here and there, and every- 
where could be seen her white apron and 
her bare, brown arms, graceful as those of 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

a small child. She never lost her head, 
never forgot anything, not even a spoon 
or a fork. She was always to be relied on. 

In her leather bag, which hung from her 
waist and which, during the night, she 
put under her pillow, she carried a lot of 
money, out of which she took handsftd of 
small coins. She could make change very 
quickly and it took but a moment for the 
right sum to be put safely away in the 
pocketbook. 

" Katie, do you never make a mistake in 
counting?" one of the students asked her. 

"Certainly, but that does not matter. 
You are honest fellows, you return it." 

"Prosit, Katie, to your health ! Come 
and have a mouthful!" 

"Thank you." She passed the back of 
her hand across her rosy lips and took a 
good drink out of the student's glass. 

Sometimes, one of the students would 
try to put his arm round her waist, but 
she always eluded them. 

The four women in the kitchen saw all 
these little scenes with a mixture of sorrow 
and disapprobation, mingling the envy of 
old age with its moral severity. Was it 

72 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

necessary for them to look at such scenes 
day after day? They might engage another 
waitress, but that was easier said than 
done. There are waitresses who are, first, 
not so industrious; second, not so respect- 
able; third, not so quick; fourth, not so 
honest; and fifth— well, this fifth!— not so 
pretty. But, was Katie really so pretty? 
Very often the four asked themselves this, 
and shook their gray heads. "No, she was 
not!" Her complexion was too brown — 
much too brown, her arms too thin, the 
whole figure without proper form. All four 
had been prettier in their youth. 

But the students found Katie charming; 
so charming, indeed, that on Katie's birth- 
day, they sent mountains of flowers, and, 
without doubt, they came more on account 
of her than because of Ruder's wines or 
Frau Ruder's roast veal. 

Several times the four old women thought 
it really was their duty to write to the dis- 
tant Austrian cousin Franzl and tell him 
how well his fiancee was enjoying herself, 
but, then, most likely this cousin Franzl 
would come to Heidelberg and take Katie 
away with him to Vienna. 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

And, finally, the four quieted their con- 
sciences with the thought that, if Katie 
was related to them, she was so only very 
distantly. It was sad to see her conduct 
herself so heedlessly, but what could they 
do? Nothing. Business was remarkably 
good, and this was really the principal 
thing. 

On the third day of May, at four in 
the afternoon, a Korps concert was held in 
Ruder's garden. The Korps' servants, whose 
senior was Herr Kellermann, had arrived by 
three, to arrange the various tables. In the 
center was the table of the "Vandalia," as 
the presiding Korps ; on the right, near the 
Neckar, the "Saxonians"; next to them 
" Rhenania" ; next to them "Saxo-Borussia" ; 
then, next to the bowling alley, the "Suev- 
ians"; and opposite, the " Westphalians." 

Katie was helping, while Herr Ruder 
went round, looking approvingly at every- 
thing, and giving himself the air of being 
the soul of the whole affair. He drank 
small glasses of gin with the Korps' ser- 
vants and presented them with fimny look- 
ing cigars, of a brand which he smoked 
from six in the morning until twelve at 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

night. If it had been possible to make 
a pole of the cigars which Herr Ruder 
smoked during a year, this pole would have 
been nearly a mile long and, standing up- 
right, it would have been taller than the 
highest mountains of the Oden Forest. 

The musicians appeared at half past 
three and received their barrel of beer; 
then the four women, the six Korps ser- 
vants, the five musicians, and Katie, hung 
Japanese lanterns all round the garden. 
Herr Ruder once more looked the place 
over. Katie put on a new apron, and, 
when everything was ready for the recep- 
tion the music struck up, and, punctually 
at four, "Vandalia" — ^with eight "fellows" 
and twelve "foxes" — entered the garden. 

"Hallo, Katie!" 

"How do you do?" 

She was surrounded by twenty red-caps, 
who all shook hands with her and talked 
to her at the same time. She was stand- 
ing in the midst if them, like a Httle queen, 
while Herr Ruder and the four aunts kept 
respectfully in the background and the 
musicians played "Was kommt dort von 
der Hah?" 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

She looked with great compassion at a 
short young fellow, whose cheeks were 
covered with black bandages : 

"Poor boy, have they given you a deep 
cut? But you are not a bit clever." 

She took his big head in her hands, 
much to his deUght, and looked at the 



"How stupid you are!" 

But " Yandalia" had Katie with them for 
only a httle while, for again the music 
struck up, and " Saxo-Borussia" appeared, 
taking it as their right, also, to shake 
Katie's hands. "Suevia" followed, and 
then "Rhenania," and "Westphalia." The 
musicians scarcely had time to drink, be- 
cause they had to salute each new Korps 
entering the garden; large and small dogs 
ran about barking, the whole garden was 
full of red, blue, green and yellow caps, 
and everywhere was the laughing face of 
the young girl, who was stiU shaking 
hands, who had to speak to everyone, 
knew everyone, and called each by name. 

It was a rare sight to see this young 
girl honored by the attention of a hundred 
young students and talking with them as 
76 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

if they were old friends. A sunny innocence 
smiled out of her bright eyes, and she 
took their homage as something entirely 
natural. 

Suddenly, in all this confusion, a power- 
ful voice called out abruptly: 

"Come her, Katie!" 

It was the tall Wedell of the Saxo-Boms- 
sia who spoke. And when, surprised at 
this harsh call, she did not go, but, instead, 
looked obstinate and angry, he, with his 
long legs, climbed over two chairs, right 
up to her ; 

" Katie, Saxo-Borussia bestows this upon 
you, this sash, her colors. Cai 
ably, Katie, don't disgrace yoi 
of us, Saxo-Borussia or Heidel 

He took the four-colored si 
his Korps and put it round t 
and waist of the abashed girl, 

And while the other Kor] 
and a little annoyed at this 
formance were looking on, th< 
sians triumphantly rattled th« 
the table, calhng: "Bravo!" 

"To your health, Katie!" 

"Prosit, Katie!" 

77 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

At this critical moment, when "Saio- 
Borussia" had again done something unus- 
ual and extraordinary, the only one to 
keep his head was Grimm of "Vandalia." 

"Katie I" 

"What is it?" 

"'Vandalia,' also, bestows her colors 
upon you." He then took oflf the red-gold- 
red sash that he wore over his waistcoat 
and tied it round the girl's shoulders. 

"Vandalia" was beside itself with de- 
Ught. 

"Bravo!" 

"Katie, VandaJiae!" 

" Katie, to your health ! A wholeglass ! " 

"A whole glass!" 

The turmoil and shouting were so great 
that no one could hear the words of the 
"Suevian" in charge, who quickly followed 
the example of the others and put his 
yellow ribbon round Katie's shoulders. 

It was now "Suevia's" turn to join in 
the shouting of "Katie!" and the uproar 
became deafening as each excited fellow 
raised his voice in the tumult. 

" Rhenania" followed, then "Westphalia" 
— ^willingly or not — and now the girl, her 
78 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

cheeks glowing with pleasure, stood among 
the laughing students, five silk ribbons 
over her young bosom, her small bouquet 
of violets quite covered with them. Red, 
blue, gold, green, white, yellow, black — all 
the colors of the rainbow in soft silk, glit- 
tered on her white waist. She looked some- 
what confiisedly, but laughingly around 
her, and then down at her new ribbons, 
rising and faUing on her breast. 

Then— without thinking, as usual— she 
took a glass of beer and, lifting it high : 

"You are all dears I Prosittoallof you !" 

And, with a deep draught, she emptied 
the glass. 

Suddenly, she felt herself lifted up. It 
was Fink, of " Vandalia," who was standing 
near her and who had clasped her around 
the knees and lifted her up like a feather : 

"Long live Katie!" 

"Katie! ! Hurrah for Katie! !" 

She still held the empty beer glass in 
her hand, she wanted to say something, 
perhaps scold them, but she saw below 
her a hundred colored caps, a hundred 
laughing faces, a hundred glasses lifted up 
to her; then she laughed— laughed 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

The baud struck up! 

Everybody grew silent at once. 

During this confusion, the last of the 
Korps, "Saxonia," appeared at the garden 
entrance. "Saxonia" was late and would 
have to pay a fine. The members of "Sax- 
onia" solemnly and slowly, raised their 
caps, and, as solemnly and slowly, the 
other five Korps returned the salute. 

For a moment, Katie was forgotten. 

The curious and even envious eyes of 
all were turned towards a striking young 
fellow, who was gracefully lifting his dark 
blue cap, as he marched in beside Herr 
Bilz, the first in charge of "Saxonia." 

"That is he!" 

"There, the first one!" 

"Which one? The one next to Bilz?" 

"Yes, that is he." 

So this was the hereditary Prince ! The 
hereditary Prince of Karlburg ! The finest 
"fox" that "Saxonia" had ever caught! 
A real hereditary Prince ! 

"Saxonia" had certainly had tremendous 
luck in making this catch, an unheard of 
luck, a catch without parallel. 

As a rule they were not envious, cer- 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

tainly not, "suum cuique;" but His High- 
ness would have looked just as well with a 
Saxo-Prussian cap, or in the red cap of 
"YandaUa," or in the "Rhenania" colors. 

He bowed to right and left, thinking 
that all the salutes, which were meant for 
his Korps, were intended for him personally. 
He certainly was embarrassed and not able, 
as yet, to view the whole state of affairs 
with the eyes of an ordinary mortal. 

There 

By God, that was pretty cheeky of 
Katie ! 

All craned their necks to see her. She 
had taken both the Prince's hands in hers. 
But, of course, she knew him, he lived with 
Frau Dorffel. 

And the Prince grew quite red in the 
face, while his new friends, surprised, as 
were all the others, stood in a circle round 
him and the girl. 

"Excuse me, Katie," said Herr Bilz, and 
tried weakly to pull her back; but she 
never noticed him. 

"Oh, this is beautifiil!" she said, with 
sparkling eyes, "it is so good of you to 
come here, and with you all." She looked 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

round the circle from Herr Bilz to little 
Coimt Munster, then at Conrad Grabenitz 
and all the others. "So he belongs to you, 
now! That is beautiful!" 

Karl Heinrich had a feeling that all his 
new Korps brothers, who were still half 
strangers to him, were watching him with 
great surprise; that the Doctor, who was 
standing behind him, was dumbfounded; 
that all— that he— that she— but her two 
little warm hands held him fast, and, 
through them her boundless youth and joy 
flowed out to him and he forgot every- 
thing. 

He did not hear the music which was 
playing in his honor, "Heil dir im Sieger- 
kranz;" he did not see the faces around 
him — he only saw two dark eyes, which, 
happy as those of a child, and passionate 
as those of a woman, looked searchingly 
into his. 

Then he sat down at the table, which 
was really no table at all, but a rough 
pine board. Before him was a large glass 
of beer, and he thought, Hke Katie: "It 
is beautiful!" 

He talked with the others, he drank, he 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

sang a song out of a studeits' singing- 
book, whicli the others knew by heart, he 
laughed, he answered whenever spoken to— 
but he did all this as if in a dream. 

One after another of his Korps brothers 
came to him to drink to good fellowship 
and to call him " Du," — it wasall so strange. 
The music was wretched, and, at first, it 
seemed to him absolutely inharmonious, but 
after a little while, the songs sounded soft 
and sweet, Hke dear melodies coming from 
afar, which he had heard somewhere before, 
but had long forgotten. Occasionally, he 
looked at the Doctor, who sat farther down 
at the table and who drank great quan- 
tities of beer and seemed to enjoy himself 
immensely. And now and then, Katie 

passed him or he saw her gomg m and/T ^ 

out among the tables, but he always founrf^ \ ^ 
her eyes. \ \ 

It was growing dark, the castle on th&^ 
mountain disappeared in the shadows o^ J 
the night. The lights in the houses /of / 
Heidelberg, on the other side of the NecE^r/ 
began to appear one by one, and Herw''''^ 
Ruder and the Korps servants lighted theV 
Japanese lanterns which hung above the 
83 ^ 




OLD HEIDELBERG 

tables, swinging in the trees and along the 
river wall, so that their colors, the colors 
of the caps, and the green of the bushes, 
made up a beautiful sparkling symphony 
of color. 

Karl Bilz, with his long, drooping mous- 
tache, sat next to Karl Heinrich. He was 
the best fighter of " Saxonia," but he looked 
among the less refined of his Korps brethren, 
Uke a disguised girl. Finally he said, in 
his quiet voice, to the Prince ! 

'* Let us go for a little walk, if you care 
to." 

"Yes, certainly." 

"One grows so tired sitting still such 
a long time." 

They went through the long rows of 
tables and the low, badly-lighted hall, out 
to the main road. Boys and girls were 
standing outside the hedge, listening to the 
music. A little distance from the house, 
it was very quiet. Now and then, a pair 
of lovers passed them in the dark. The 
moon had not yet risen, the road lay in 
the shadow of the summer night, and, as 
they walked further away, the music grew 
very soft and low. They were playing 
84 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

"Three Students Went Across the Rhine." 
To the right of them, in the meadows, 
crickets chirped and a few frogs croaked. 

"Do you like it in Heidelberg?" 

It was only a conventional question, to 
break the silence, but, in his suppressed 
happiness, it came as a positive relief to 
the Prince. 

"Du?" 

The Prince took the other's hands in 
his, with a grip like a vise, as one who is 
about to open his heart for the first time 
in his life. 

The student was moved. He certainly 
did not understand all that was meant 
by this pressure of his hands — ^the great 
longing of a human being, who, at last, 
deUvered, pours forth the passion of his 
whole life — but he was pleased and touched. 

The Prince wanted him for a friend ! 

And then they returned to their places 
among the others and to their pine table. 

If possible, they were even merrier than 
before. There were friendly young faces 
all around the Prince, looking at him, 
laughing and happy. Everybody drank 
to him : 

8S 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

"Karl Heinrich, to your health!" 

"Karl Heinrich, Prosit, Prosit!" 

And he nodded, laughed, and clicked 
glasses with them. 

"Karl Heinrich, will you come with us 
to-morrow to the fencing hall?" 

"Yes, indeed!" 

"Roux will give you lessons." 

"Who is that?" 

"The fencing master." 

"Very well." 

"Will you attend the lectures?" 

"Yes, institutions and law." 

" Go on, that's nonsense." 

And they all explained to him, with 
unanimous lightness, that nobody in Heidel- 
berg goes to college, at least, not in May, 
and certainly not at all during the first 
term. 

He smiled and seemed to listen atten- 
tively to all these explanations, in which 
all took part, but he felt the grip of an 
iron force which would destroy everything, 
a cold voice saying : " I want you to under- 
stand that this year at the University must 
be spent in serious scientific studies and not 
in seeking for pleasure." 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

Timidly he looked at the Doctor, who 
was sent here to see the Prince's will car- 
ried out, but this Doctor stood in front 
of an enormous bowl, in each hand he held 
a wine bottle, from which he was pouring 
wine. 

"No lemon is needed," Karl Heinrich 
heard him say, excitedly; and, as somebody 
nearby seemed to contradict him, he struck 
the table with one of the bottles, and trem- 
blir^g with excitement, he cried : 

"1 hav* made a thousand wine cups in 
KarlburgI Hang it all, I certainly ought 
to know if lemon is wanted or not!" 

This very same evening Herr Lutz was 
sitting in his room, waiting for His High- 
ness to come home. 

"Most hkely I shall not return before 
eleven," His Highness had told him, "if you 
like, you can go out and take a glass of 
beer." 

Herr Lutz had done so, only he had 
taken several pints of claret, as beer did not 
agree with him. The wine was good, so 
Herr Lutz's spirits had risen and he was 
more reconciled than he had been for days. 

"It isn't wise to go too far," he thought, 
87 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

"better to stay for ayearin this confounded 
TJniTersity town, than to quarrel with His 
Highness. It may be dangerous, and one 
can never be sure." 

At half past ten, like all good citizens, 
he returned home; then he lighted all the 
lamps, put everything in order in His High- 
ness' bedroom and looked out of the win- 
dow. He was yawning a little, but was not 
yet tired. 

However, His Highness might come home 
now. 

Eleven o'clock ! 

The calling of valet to kings and princes 
is a singular and a serious business. Lutz 
knew many of his colleagues, who had been 
presented to him while traveling at foreign 
Courts : Rosanoff, KroU, Bietingsfeld, men 
in whose hands the fate of Europe had 
sometimes rested. What a man was Rosan- 
off! He looked like a Russian Councillor of 
State and wore the Order of the Medshidge. 
Or Bamhuth, first valet to His Royal 
Highness the Duke of Coburg ! He was a 
"bon homme," amiable, good to his subordi- 
nates and most unrestrained in his behavior 
when in the presence of the really great. 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

or Legrand, who was thought to be worth 
half a million, or Schafier, whose luck with 
women — even with those in the highest 
circles — had become proverbial. 

Midnight 

In Karlburg, he went to bed at eleven 
o'clock, in a warm, comfortable room. Be- 
fore turning out the light, he drank a glass 
of old claret, and then lay down, tired 
but contented, under a soft, silk cover. A 
well-regulated life keeps a man healthy; 
early to bed is a golden rule. But, in 
this God-forsaken place, ever3rthing was 
different. 

One o'clock 

Herr Lutz got up. He had been dozing 
for a while in an easy chair, at the window. 
Now his right arm, which had been sup- 
porting his head on the hard windowsill, 

was hurting him. What the does this 

mean ! One o'clock and not home yet ! 
"Coming home at eleven" should mean 
"Being home at eleven!" A cool wind 
came through the open window into the 
room, so that Herr Lutz coughed. He 
certainly had caught cold while dozing. 

He walked restlessly up and down the 
89 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

room, exhausted and full of rage — until the 
clock struck two. 

Suddenly he grew frightened — something 
must have happened ! The Prince had been 
killed! 

It was a ridiculous idea, which he soon 
forced out of his mind, but still his rest- 
lessness increased until he could remain 
alone no longer. He took one of the old- 
fashioned candlesticks and went down 
through the corridor. "I shall call Frau 
Dorffel," he thought, " she must get up and 
keep me company." At first, he knocked 
timidly, then, gradually gaining courage, he 
finally poimded with bis fist, but no one 
answered. He pushed the door, which 
opened readily, and looked into the close- 
smelling room. Nobody there ! The bed 
empty ! And the bed of the young girl 
also empty! And this at half past two 
in the morning! 

Something, which turned out to be only 
the cat, moved in the comer, but this slight 
noise terrified Herr Lutz to such an extent 
that he grew deathly pale. He closed the 
door quickly and stood outside in the broad 
corridor, with its dim comers and fantastic 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

shadows. There was no one in the house! 
He was all alone! 

When the clock struck four, Herr Lutz 
was a sick man. He sat there, pale as 
death, a blank expression on his face, his 
thin lips trembhng, his brain empty. He 
could think of nothing that he had not 
already thought of during this night, — he 
only knew that a man in his position had 
never been so shamefully treated before. 

He watched the first grey shadows of the 
coming dawn on the black roof of the 
church; then slowly other buildings came 
into view, as the light grew stronger, and 
finally the sun shone forth in all his glory. 
Outside, the sparrows chirped. It was 
morning ! 

"Lutz! Hallo, Lutz!" 

He got up; somebody had shakei 
shoulder. He had slept, and was rubBi 
his eyes, but he had not yet come to 
senses. 

"That's right, Lutz," say_the Prince, 
"I am glad to see that yow 
is a little bit late, or, rati 
And, turning to the men who^ 
room, he said: "This is Lutz, 
91 




Cc>i>i^lc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

Yalet, whom I am glad to introduce to. 
you." 

Lutz, during his long life at Court, had 
lost the faculty of being surprised at any- 
thing, but, for a few moments, with his 
overtired, leaden eyes, he could not make 
out things. On the chairs, the sofa, the 
table, the piano, even on the windowsill, 
men were sitting everywhere, fellows with 
student's caps and silk ribbons. Someone 
was playing on the piano a song from 
"MadameAngot" — ^itwas the Doctor. Lutz 
later discovered three big dogs, that ran 
round him, snuffing at him, and, in the 
midst of this lot of scoundrels, stood the 
young girl, saying: "How many cups of 
coffee? Seventeen? Just count." 

Karl Heinrich counted: "That's right, 
seventeen. Please, Lutz, go along and help 
in the kitchen and hurry things up a bit." 

And Lutz went. 

His strength was broken, his powers of 
resistance gone. "That's right, Lutz, I am 
glad to see that you have slept." This 
sentence of the Prince continually sounded 
in his ears. It seemed to intimate that 
he had had his usual good night's rest, 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

while, in reality, he had not slept ten 
minutes. 

" Come on, just help a bit, give me those 
blue cups. Yes, those!" 

He did it. 

They wanted brandy, — he fetched brandy. 

They wanted cigars, — he brought cigars. 

He even called the big Danes into the 
kitchen and satisfied their wants. One of 
them growled angrily at him, but Herr 
Lutz thought humbly: "Kill me, if you 
want to, it does not matter!" 

At six o'clock, Herr Lutz was again 
alone. Prince, Doctor, students and dogs 
had stampeded down the stairs, and the 
forsaken rooms, after this one hour, looked 
Uke a battlefield. Everywhere ashes, cigar 
ends, brandy bottles, cups, glasses, in great 
disorder. A chair was broken, and the air 
was so full of tobacco smoke that it made 
Lutz sick. 

"We are going to the castle," Karl Hein- 
rich had said to him. "I shall be home at 
noon and shall then try to get a few hours 
rest." 

This Prince was becoming a "rou^"— 
Herr Lutz was the valet of a "rou^." 
9S 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

Woidd this go on now, day after day? 
And Herr Lutz shook his fist in a help- 
less fury at the sunny city : 
"Heidelberg!" 



byGOOQJC 



seriousness of the situation. 

What if they should hear of this in Karl- 
burg! 

And if they made further inquiries and 
found out something ! That Karl Heinrich 
never attended the lectures ! That at Whit- 
suntide, he had taken a trip to Milan and 
had run up quite a number of debts ! But, 
worst of all, that love affair with the wait- 
ress, which the very sparrows in Heidelberg 
twittered from the house tops! 

But this fight was the crowning feature 
of it all ! 

They hadn't told him anything about it, 
it had happened behind his back. It was a 
terrible scandal ! 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

Like a madman, he entered Karl Hein- 
rich's room: 

" Your Highness ! " 

"Doctor!" 

"I am sick of all this I" 

"Of what?" 

"Of everything. I shall resign. I am 
going to write to Karlburg to-day. It is 
all my fault, I know, but I am not going to 
stand by and see it go on." 

"But, Doctor " 

"I wish we had never come here! How 
could a man like me, thirty-five years of 
age, settled in life, forget duty and order! 
I had come here for a rest and to live tem- 
perately, and, instead of doing so, I have 
knocked about at all hours and have ruined 
myself Look at me ! A wreck, a complete 
ruin!" 

He reaUy did not look well, and Karl 
Heinrich felt great pity for him. 

"You are right, my dear Doctor, this 
can't go on. You must take care of your- 
self You must walk a great deal and sleep 
less. Doctor, you must live by the clock." 

But the Doctor couldn't bear to have 
anyone assent to his own self-accusations : 
96 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

"I am not speaking of myself. Your 
Highness, but rather of you. Your present 
mode of Ufe cannot go on. I shall resign, 
that's settled. A sick man Hke myself, who 
hasn't another five years to live, not even 
three, two, one, cannot direct your educa- 
tion any longer, and certainly not here iii 
Heidelberg." 

Suddenly his excitement went to the 
other extreme: "Oh, Karl Heinz, I wish 
we had never come here!" 

That afternoon and the following night 
he nursed the Prince, and, after he had 
drunk a few bottles of wine he was again 
in the best of humor. 

"That's the worst of it," he said, "that 
nothing but alcohol can keep one in good 
humor." But he spoke very cheerfully. 

Several times again he attempted to 
arouse Karl Heinrich's conscience, but he 
fared like the sorcerer's apprentice who 
conjured up ghosts and then couldn't get 
rid of them. 

It was remarkable how the Prince had 
changed during the past few months, evenJn 
his appearance. His way of carrying himself 
had grown firmer and more vigorous, his 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

face looked more energetic and the scars 
on liis cheek gave him a martial air. With 
the positive exception of the tall Wedell of 
the Saxo-Prussians, there was no gayer 
student in all Heidelberg, but even in Karl 
Heinrich's big and small absurdities, his 
drinking bouts and his fights, there was 
something of the "Grand Seigneur." He 
always seemed, even when very drunk, 
to tower head and shoulders above the 
others, and to look down upon all crazy 
actions. 

In his method of education, the Doctor 
went from bad to worse. He was no longer 
the guardian, but now Karl Heinrich began 
to master him. Punctually at nine o'clock 
the Doctor had to get up ; at the stroke of 
twelve he had to retire. For two hours 
daily he was forced to take a walk, but 
this energetic mode of life ought to have 
been prescribed and followed many months, 
perhaps even years, before. "Force me to 
do it, Karl Heinrich," he would say, "com- 
pel me!" but much oftener he became cross 
when he was forced. "The dickens, let me 
Hve these last few years as I want to ! 
No, I am not going for a walk, I am tired. 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

I don't want to. Katie, give me a pint of 
claret!" 

But the Prince stood to his guns: "No 
nonsense, Doctor ; come along ! We will go 
together to the Koenigstuhl, allons!" 

Sooner than anyone had thought, the 
poor Doctor was relieved of these and other 
hardships. For, one day, Karl Heinrich had 
Professor von Michaelis examine the Doctor, 
and he was sent to a private hospital. 

There he was installed in a very pretty 
sickroom, with a fine balcony, furnished 
with a smart smoking-table, a most com- 
fortable lounge and everything that could 
add to his comfort. Here he spent day 
after day, looking out at the sunshine, and 
was continually visited by Karl Heinz and 
his Korps brothers. Here he drank, smoked, 
played cards and fo^nd his life as easy and / 
agreeable as possible. yV 

"I shall get well again, I feel if^ha/ 
often said. The professor, smiling io\a 
superior way, had given him a fewinst™/- 
tions: "No beer, no potatoes," and.pas tlm— 
Doctor did not care much for eitmr^btit\( 
preferred a good glass of wine, he folLMtMlu 
the professor's advice closely, i^i^i^^^^^ y^ \ 
99 ... ■■:%) 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

He might have drunk beer or eaten 
potatoes for all that, but sick people to 
wh«m nothing is forbidden, lose hope. 

For weeks Karl Heinrich was uneasy. 
The first grey shadow had come over the 
sunny gladness of Heidelberg. He did not 
know that his days in the gay town were 
just as much numbered as those of the 
Doctor, although in a different sense. And, 
while the Doctor lived through this time in 
such good humor and tranquility of mind 
that even the Professor was astonished, the 
Prince was sad and absorbed. For whole 
days he would sit with the Doctor on the 
balcony, as if it was his sacred duty to 
keep him company continually, until, one 
day, the Doctor lost patience. 

"Why do you sit here all day long and 
act as if I were dangerously ill? Confound 
you, but things have not yet gone as far as 
that. Go and run about, enjoy yourself, 
but don't sit here and make long faces, as 
if I were already dying!" 

The Prince was so surprised he could not 
answer, but the Doctor gave him no time : 

"My dear Karl Heinz, you are wasting 
the best that any man can have, and that 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

is, the time of youth. You seem to think 
that you will stay here forever in Heidelberg 
with your friend, and with pretty Uttle 
Katie. But it won't be long before the year 
is over. Every hour not properly employed 
is lost, and it never comes back again — ^it 
is 'temps perdu.' It makes no difference 
whether you are a Prince or only an ordi- 
nary human being. Please pour me a 
glass of wine, — the bottle is over there in the 
comer. I, also, was young once, and I kept 
thinking : ' There is still time, oh ! yes, there 
is still time,' but it is too late at last. Go 
and enjoy yourself, do not come at all to- 
morrow. Come the day after to-morrow 
and then only for one hour. Please give 
me that box of cigars. Thanks. It is so 
beautiful to lie out here. Look at that nice 
little girl over there, on the balcony ; what 
a little darling she is, and how she looks at 
us! Confound it, if I were only young 
once more!" 

During the following week, "Saxonia" 
made a trip through the Black Forest. 
Every day the Doctor received postal cards, 
on which he was told how many glasses of 
beer they had drunk to his special health. 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

in Gemsbach, Baden, Freiberg, on the 
Feldberg and every village where beer was 
to be had. If, by such drink oflFerings, 
health could actually have been restored, 
the poor Doctor, in this short time, ought 
to have grown quite well again. 

With a sun-burned face and in excellent 
spirits, Karl Heinrich returned to Heidel- 
berg. He went first to see Katie, who, with 
all her passionate love, received him joy- 
fully. Then he went to the hospital. The 
joy of seeing the Prince again brought 
the color once more to the Doctor's thin 
cheeks — he welcomed him with a radiant 
face: 

"That's right, Karl Heinz! Run around 
in the world with the others ! Don't stay 
in one room and look solemn. Ring the 
bell, we will drink a bottle of Steinwein. 
How is Katie? Isn't she very happy to- 
day? Was she at the station? No? And 
why not? What a darling she is ! Now, 
come along and tell me of your travels. 
Have you been in Strassburg? My boy, 
you look splendid, as brown as an Indian.- ^ 
I am all right, I really feel fine. This rest 
here does me good. Have you been in Wild- 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

bad? What a charming place it is. Isn't 
the whole Black Forest beautiful ! Pour 
the wine, Karl Heinz — to' your health!" 

Perhaps the Doctor was really better and 
the Professor and his assistants had made 
a mistake. At any rate, he was never in 
better spirits than during these days of his 
illness, and so Karl Heinrich found his joy- 
ousness coming back to him. 

On one of the last days of July he gave 
a great festiTal at Ruder's, to his Korps. 
Everything was done in first-class style and, 
late in the evening, the castle was illumi- 
nated so that the whole of Heidelberg, in- 
cluding all strangers and foreigners, assem- 
bled at the river to have a look at this 
magnificent sight. The Doctor could only 
admire the wonderful picture fi-om his lonely 
balcony, while Karl Heinrich, the hero of 
the day, had voluntarily left the crowd. He 
sat beside Katie in Ruder's old boat, which 
Herr Kellermann was rowing against the 
tide. Nobody in Heidelberg was better 
fitted to accompany a pair lovers on such 
a nocturnal boat trip than Herr Keller- 
mann. He never heard or saw anything, he 
continually fussed with the obstinate oars, 
103 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

wHich made him angry and required all 
his attention. He had the habit of talking 
quietly to himself, a continuous murmur, 
which was strangely composed of delight, 
dissatisfaction, reminiscences and instan- 
taneous fancies, sense and nonsense: "Stu- 
pid nonsense— oars— oh ! yes !— water— late 
— good — ^to-morrow momJng — send for it — 
get it — d d — all shoes — " and so on. 

When the old castle, in its nightly soh- 
tude, began to be illuminated, when red 
lights radiated from window to window of 
the old ruin, and Karl Heinrich thrilled by 
this wonderful sight, stood up in the shak- 
ing boat, Herr Kellermann never even no- 
ticed it. What had he to do with castles 
and fireworks ! In the last thirty years, he 
had seen this dozens of times,— he had 
something else to do besides looking at such 
nonsense. 

Slowly the flames died out until only a 
few windows of the castle were still Ughted 
up. Finally, these also grew dark, and the 
faint reflection on the Neckar disappeared. 

The boat drifled along in the quiet of the 
night, Karl Heinrich and Katie sat side by 
side, and only the mutterings of Herr Keller- 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

mann and the quiet dipping of the oars 
broke the stiUness. 

Some time passed, and finally Katie grew 
restless : 

"We must go home." 

And, in fact, it was past midnight. 

" Kellermann, we must turn back, let the 
boat drift." 

"Hm!" 

"Will you smoke a cigar, Kellermann?" 

"Hm!" 

For a few seconds, the match lighted up 
the old, wrinkled face. 

The Prince had known the old man now 
for several months, but in these few mo- 
ments, it seemed to him as if he had seen 
those weary features for the first time. 

"How old are you, Kellerman?" 

For a few moments, Kellermann did not 
answer, for this question was so new £uid 
singular that it confused him. 

"Sixty-five." 

Sixty-five ! And every night on the go — 
the whole day busy, always a bit slow but 
always willing, a poor devil who had to 
Usten to twenty masters and who could not 
suit one of them. Not a jolly sort of a 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

fellow, such as smts the students' Ufe; not 
a clown, continually to be laughed at — 
only a tired human being, who, term after 
term, had to serve new masters. 

"Have you a family, Kellermann?" 

The old man looked surprised, almost 
distrustful. Never had he been asked that— 
at least, never in such a tone — by one of the 
students. His wife was sometimes seen, as 
she did the students' laundry. 

But Karl Heinrich kept on questioning, 
while Katie, almost invisible to Herr Keller- 
mann, and resting her head on her darling's 
shoulder, helped him : 

"Do answer, Kellermann, speak up." 

And both, in their tender and happy 
mood, doubly susceptible to the suflFerings 
of others, asked questions alternately, with 
so much eagerness and sympathy, that, at 
last, the sad story of Kellermann's life was 
brought out. 

For the first time in his life, the Prince 
understood the struggle for existence of a 
fellow being. 

" Kellermann ! *' 

"Yes, sir!" 

"Kellermann, when I have left here, if 

io6 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

you should have bad luck, would you write 
me?" 

The old man did not answer, but Katie 
put her arms round Karl Heinrich's neck 
and whispered something in his ear,— per- 
haps she thanked him. 

"You understand a lot about wine, Kel- 
lermann" — Karl Heinrich smiled — "when I 
am the reigning Prince, later on, come to 
me. You shall be my head cellarman. 
That fits your name, too, doesn't it?" 

A callous hand reached out of the dark- 
ness, taking Katie's hand by mistake, so 
that she screamed with fear, but which then 
groped farther and found that of the Prince, 
which it pressed hard. 

Then the boat drifted again in deep 
silence. 

Herr Kellermann's cigar glowed throi 
the darkness and Karl Heinrich and 
sat quietly, close to each other, 
moved, and happier than ever before. 
no longer kissed her, they only held 
other closely, and Katie hummed, as in 
dream, an old Bohemian song which, 
child, she had learned on the distant Don: 

During the evening three telegrams 
107 




OLD HEIDELBERG 

arriTed for His- Highness, and as they all 
came from Karlburg, they set Herr Lutz to 
thinking and caused him, at last, to go 
himself to Ruder's hostelry. .He knew as 
little about this place as about all the other 
" Kneipen" which His Highness frequented, 
and he was, therefore, not surprised when 
Ruder told him that His Highness was not 
there at present, but that, most likely, he 
would soon return. Between twelve atnoon 
and three the next morning His Highness 
could not be found, but Herr Lutz had 
grown accustomed to that. One of the first 
principles of Court life is that meals, rides, 
travels and everything else be so fixed by 
rule, to the minute and second, that, at any 
given time, others knew just what each 
member of the royal family was doing, — but 
His Highness was an exception, his mode of 
life was directly opposed to these rules. 
Not that Herr Lutz became angry about it, 
— oh ! no ! He had stopped that long ago. 
The only thing that lay on his mind was 
that he — Lutz — ^felt that he himself had 
slowly changed. He didn't take so much 
pains with his linen, nor was his exterior 
appearance as formerly, and the glistening 
1 08 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

white of his ties had dimmed. Nobody 
asked for him, nobody troubled about him. 
His activity was gone — so why trouble? 

Lutz had even slowly lost that fine sense 
of dignity which his position and education 
had given him. It often happened that, 
nearly dead from "ennui," he sat for hours 
with the old women in the kitchen and 
drank coffee. He was degenerating, he was 
really only a servant now, he had lost his 
own self-respect. Once, in order to pass the 
time, he began a flirtation with a servant 
girl in the neighborhood, but she showed so 
plainly that she wanted to become Lutz's 
wife that he dropped this liaison. 

About half past ten Herr Lutz, with his 
three telegrams, arrived at Ruder's. Mid- 
night passed, and still His Highness did not 
appear. 

Then, quite suddenly, Herr Lutz saw his 
master. His Highness stood in the midst of 
all the confusion among the students. In 
his right hand he had a beer glass, in his 
left a rapier, his blue cap was perched on 
the back of his head and he seemed to be 
making a speech. Directly afterwards, there 
was a great uproar, they struck the tables 
109 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

with their glasses so that it sounded like 
thunder, and Karl Heinrich stood laughing 
in their midst, looking with sparkling eyes 
to right and left. 

Gravely and solemnly, Herr Lutz went 
through the rows of students and stopped 
behind the Prince. 

"Your Highness " 

"SUentium! we shall now sing: Yon all 
den Madchen so bUtz und so blank—" 

The music struck up and Herr Lutz 
bowed for the second time : 

"Your Highness " 

But the Prince did not see him, nobody 
saw him. Waiters carrying glasses of beer 
ran about between the tables, passing 
students unintentionally pushed Herr Lutz 
roughly from one side to the other, then 
they all began singing: 

"Yon all den MEdchen so blitz und so 
blank 
Gefaellt mir am besten die Lore " 

Angry and half desperate, Herr Lutz 
bowed behind Karl Heinrich for the third 
time: 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

"Your Highness " 

"Sie ist mein Gedanke bei Tag und bei 
Nacht 
Und wohnet im Winkel am Thore " 

Hen* Lutz, in his black suit, his face 
white with rage, stood among that jolly, 
half-drunken set, looking Hke a figure of 
Retribution, a bearer of bad news, who 
pauses a moment before deUvering his mes- 
sage of ill-omen. 

Karl Bilz, who sat next the Prince, at 
last saw him. 

"There is someone there behind you, 
Karl Heinz." 

"Where?— Lutz!" 

"Your Highness " 

"What's the matter?" 

"Urgent telegrams from Karlburg have 
arrived for Your Highness." 

The Prince grew pale. 

And, while the second verse of the"Lore" 
song sounded through the garden, he opened 
the telegrams and read : 

"I beg to announce to Your Highness' 
that His Serene Highness is seriously ill and 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

wishes Your Highness, in the course of the 
next few days, to come to Karlburg for a 
short stay." 

This message, as well as the two others, 
was signed by the Lord Chamberlain. The 
second gave a short account of the illness, 
while the third begged His Highness not to 
look upon the illness as being of a danger- 
ous nature as yet. 

He turned : 

"It's all right, Lutz. Go now! I shall 
be home in an hour. Pack the trunks; we 
shall leave here to-morrow evening." 

Very few had been aware of this interrup- 
tion, and no one seemed to notice that a 
quarter of an hour afterwards, Karl Hein- 
rich's chair was vacant. 

As the Prince was leaving the garden, he 
looked back just once. 

What if that illness should Unger and 
keep him chained to Karlburg for weeks, or, 
perhaps, months? 

Suppose — and it was possible— suppose 
he could never return to Heidelberg! 

But he tried to brace up, and was angry 
with himself for his weakness. He had al- 
ways been inclined to exaggerate his feel- 



by GooqIc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

ings, — a weak, womanly habit, attributable 
only to people who have nfever had any 
serious struggles in life, — and, angry with 
himself, he even forgot to say Good-night to 
Katie. 



byGooqlc 




When Karl I 
the hospital to s 
he foiuid him Ijr 

cony. There was usually a fine view of the 
castle and the Konigstuhl from this point, 
but to-day everything was obscured by a 
fine rain. Still, this was refi-eshing after 
the close heat of the last few days. 

The Doctor was lying, weak and tired, 
on his piUows, but he smiled cheeriully at 
the Prince, and at his first words, he sat 
np: 

"Going away! To Karlburg!" 

He took the telegrams and after reading 
them through twice in feverish haste, he lay 
back heavily and gazed, without saying 
a word, past Harl Heinrich out at the fast 
falling rain. 

*' There is nothing to be done but go, my 
dear Doctor?" 

"No, that's the only thing for you to 
do." 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

"I am going to-night." 

"Hm!" 

"I think that I shall be back in a week 
or a fortnight." 

"Possibly." 

"And during that time, my dear Doctor, 
you shall want for nothing. I have spoken 
to my Korps brothers and every morning 
and every afternoon, one of them will visit 
you. If you wish, I will also leave Lutz 
here to wait on you." 

The Doctor smiled feebly. 

"No, thank you very much." 

And Karl Heinrich also smiled. Herr 
Lutz and the Doctor had never had much 
in common, and here in the hospital they 
would certainly understand each other. 
even less. 

But his smile soon faded. During the 
last ftw days a marked change had come 
over the Doctor. The fall face had gro^ 
haggard, on the blue cover of the bed l^y 
his clasped hands, thin and white. More , 
and more the thought took hold of himy ' 
that the end would soon come. 

Suddenly their eyes met. He wanted to 
look aside, but could not. Perhaps the 
"5 



byGooglc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

Doctor also tried to avoid his look, but lie 
had even less strength. So they gazed 
straight into each other's eyes, until Karl 
Heinrich was deeply moved. He bit his lip 
and tried to stare indifferently into space. 
Then, as if from a great distance, he heard 
the Doctor speak: 

"Whatdoesit matter, Karl Heinz, sooner 
or later ! It would be hard to find a more 
beautiful spot in which to say good-bye 
to the world. It doesn't require a poet to 
appreciate it, going to sleep here quietly, 
peacefully .... Let me rather talk of 
yourself, Karl Heinz. You think of coming 
back in a week or in a fortnight. It may 
be so, but it may also be that you never 
return. Keep young, Karl Heinrich, that is 
the best I can wish for you. Remain as you 
are, and if they try to change you — and 
they will try— then fight against it. Let 
your heart keep its warm, tender, human 
interest. Perhaps a time will come when 
you will think of these Heidelberg days and 
of me with different feeUngs than you have 
to-day, perhaps with despair or even rage ; 
a time when you will say to yourself: 'I 
ought not to have gone down to the level 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

of the others, and shoiJd have maintained 
my dignity a little more.' They will all tell 
you that you really did forget yourself and 
that this short space of time is out of 
accord with the rest of your life. But do 
not believe them." 

With the rain still falling in torrents, 
the Prince went up to the castle and kept 
climbing higher and higher, aimlessly, until 
he reached the Konigstuhl. The roads were 
muddy, and the rain, falling through the 
fir trees to the moss below, kept u a con- 
tinual drizzle. He coidd not see a hundred 
yards ahead and the view of the Rhine val- 
ley was entirely veiled ; but out of the forest 
came such a fresh, sweet breath of nature, 
that Karl Heinrich soon forgot his troubles. 

Half an hour later, he was sitting in the 
new glass summer-house that Herr Ruder 
had built at great cost, and was drinking a 
glass of good wine. Katie was beside him. 
There was no one else in the garden, for 
this was the Korps fighting day and others 
did not come at that hour and certainly 
not in such weather. It rained so hard now 
that the drops made great bubbles as they 
fell on the surface of the Neckar, and the 
117 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

houses on the opposite shore could hardly 
be seen. But Karl Heinrich's melancholy, 
with which he had started the day, and in 
which he had visited the poor Doctor, was 
gone. In a few weeks, perhaps even sooner, 
he would be back, and the good old Doctor 
would be quite well again, and all these 
forebodings of evil was nonsense. 

"Go and get me a postal card, Katie!" 

"What for?" 

"I/Ct us write to the Doctor." 

She opened her umbrella, lifted her skirts 
daintily and tripped cautiously through 
the inundated garden to the house. When 
she returned with the card, he wrote : 

"Dear Doctor: It's all stupid nonsense! 

I shall be back in a fortnight to find you 

well and healthy, and take you out of the 

hospital. Katie and I drink to your health. 

K. H." 

"Send the Doctor a greeting, Katie." 
She read attentively what he had written, 
took his gold pencil, whose point she first 
put between her lips, and wrote ; 

"Karl Heinrich and I send you our very 
best wishes. Katie." 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

"What would you say, Katie," he asked, 
"if I never came back?" 

Very much surprised, she looked at 
him. 

"Never?" 

"Never." 

"But that is not possible I" 

The blood left her cheeks, she grew 
deathly pale. 

"But, you are surely coming back?" 

He laughed. He was so sure of it now 
that he could make light of it. If it should 
happen, though it was unUkely, that, for 
some cause or another, they wanted to keep 
him in Karlburg, he wotdd simply insist on 
his return to Heidelberg. He was no longer 
a boy, with whom they could do as they 
pleased, and there was no power on earth 
that could deprive him of his liberty, which 
he had at last won for himself. 

" Just suppose, Katie, that I should not 
come back, never, never; what would you 
do then?" 

Her lips trembled; she wanted to say 
something, but found no words. Then she 
arose, went over to him and put her arms 
round his neck. 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

"You are coming back, Karl Heinz. I 
feel it deep down in my heart!" 

Hour after hour passed, and, with the 
rain still falling, the two sat together, with 
Ruder's good wine before them. The aunts 
in the kitchen, and Herr Ruder himself, 
now and then looked through the opening 
in the glass door, but did not disturb the 
couple. A few guests came in during the 
course of the afternoon, but they were kept 
in the front room. When there was only 
half an hour left in which to catch the 
Frankfort express, Herr Ruder hitched his 
horse to an old runabout and took the 
reins himself, to drive his most illustrious 
guest to the station. 

No hereditary Prince had ever before 
been driven to a station in such an un- 
ceremonious way; a Uttle waitress waving 
her handkerchief after him, a galloping 
horse, a dilapidated carriage arriving at 
the station spattered with mud, no luggage, 
no servant, only a Herr Ruder who was half 
drunk and whose name was taken by a 
policeman on account of such fast driving. 

With increasing excitement, Herr Lutz 
had waited in the house until twenty min- 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

utes before train time, and how well he had 
grown accustomed to the irregular habits 
of His Highness was proved by his con- 
clusion that his master would go direct to 
the station at the last moment. 

Wet through, without an overcoat, Karl 
Heinrich jumped into his reserved compart- 
ment. Herr Lutz had only just time to 
draw His Highness' attention to overcoat, 
rugs and bags and to hasten to his own 
car, when the train moved out of the sta- 
tion. 

For a long time the Prince stood at the 
window, and, even after Heidelberg had 
disappeared, he still gazed out at the fog. 
Finally, he took a deep breath, hke some- 
one awakening from a dream. He took off 
his silk Korps ribbon, which he wore over 
his waistcoat, and put it in his pocket. 
The dark-blue cap he put in a hat-box, 
substituting for it a traveling hat. 

The three red roses that Katie had given 
him he kept in his hand. Sitting far back 
on the soft red cushions, he tried to think 
of Katie, but the picture of the Doctor 
came constantly before his eyes. The poor 
fellow was Ijring in the hospital and he, 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

Karl Heinrich, was on his way to Karl- 
burg. Alone! Three months before they 
had taken the same trip to Heidelberg, 
together! Together!— Katie, the Doctor, 
the Korps brothers, always together, always 
jolly, always with others — and now he was 
alone! 

* » « • » 

The Lord Chamberlain, the equerries, 
two adjutants — ^it was a solemn reception, 
due to His Highness the hereditary Prince. 

The lackeys stood in a double row, with 
their hats in their hands, and right and 
left, behind these lines, stood a curious 
public which, excited over the serious bul- 
letins concerning the illness of His Serene 
Highness, had come to the station in great 
numbers. 

So the hereditary Prince was coming ! 

They had summoned him by telegraph ! 

In a few days. His Highness, the heredi- 
tary Prince, might be the reigning Prince ! 

They did not shout "Hoch," that would 
not have suited the sad occasion, but all 
hats were lifted and all the women bowed 
to the future master. 

Outside the station there was also a 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

large crowd; in fact, along the entire way 
to the castle stood an uninterrupted hne 
of people, all saluting silently. 

Karl Heinrich sat beside the Lord Cham- 
berlain. In the Prince's room in the station, 
he had talked with the gentlemen of the 
Court and with the Doctors, and they had 
assured him that the greatest danger, which 
had threatened the preceding night, seemed 
to be over, and that a recovery of His 
Highness was quite possible. 

He did not speak a word. He held his 
hat in his hand and bowed right and left. 

"How gloomy he looks!" said the men. 

"How sad he looks!" said the women. 

And he kept on bowing. 

Thousands of people saluted him, a whole 
town ! 

It was only a short distance, and th6 
&st horses brought him to the castle in a 
very few minutes. 

But it seemed as if, in that short spac^ 
of time, a hidden hand had gripped Hs - 
heart and had crowded many things out of . 
his life forever. - -^ 

The guard at the castle bridge presented \ 
arms, but there was no music. 



jcKGdoqIc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

He bowed. 

The carriage stopped, and slowly, with- 
out haste, he got out. He did not notice 
the lackeys on both sides of the stairs, 
straight on he went, without looking for 
the Lord Chamberlain and the adjutants, 
who followed two or three steps behind, 
up the broad marble stairs. 

He was back in Karlburg— now he was 
"the Prince" again. 

The days passed, then became weeks, 
and out of the weeks grew months. 

The Doctors were the real masters in the 
castle of Karlburg, they Uved there and 
hardly left the rooms of the old Prince. 

The lackeys moved even more quietly 
than usual, every loud sound in the castle 
or its surroundings was forbidden, and 
there was the silence of the grave in the 
house and garden. 

But the fear and sorrow, either deeply 
felt or only assumed, which had been on 
all faces during the first few weeks, slowly 
disappeared. The servants yawned behind 
the doors and the terrible weariness spread 
from the sickroom, through the castle and 
farther even, into the town of Karlburg. 

134 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

No concerts, no diversion, no festivities, 
every Sunday in the churches the very same 
prayer for the sick Prince — a dreary same- 
ness. 

It was impossible for Karl Heinrich to 
leave Karlburg. At first, he was restless 
and nervous, and demanded of the Doctors 
truthful reports of the illness. But later, 
he grew accustomed to their shrugging of 
shoulders, and,, at last, gave up the hope, 
for the present, of returning to Heidelberg. 

The load of government affairs, of which 
he had made harder work than was neces- 
sary, but which, at the same time, would 
have been difficult under any circumstances, 
claimed much of his time, while the dying 
Prince naturally expected that his nephew 
and heir should spend many hoturs in his 
company. With his weak, hoarse voice, 
often only a whisper, he talked of the past 
and of the future, and in these dark hours 
there came between uncle and nephew, who 
had for twenty years lived together almost 
as strangers, their first understanding. They 
belonged together, the dying Prince and the 
future Prince, and through the feverish 
touch of the trembling hand, there passed 

135 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

into the younger man an influence which 
slowly changed his whole Hue of thought 
and feeling. 

"The Princes of this world live alone 
on their thrones, a gulf never to be bridged 
over separates them from all others, even 
from those who, by reason of birth and 
rank, stand as servants nearest their 
thrones. And they ought to remain alone, 
they must remain alone, — ^this is their most 
difficult task, but herein lies also their great 
strength. To stand in sohtary majesty, that 
is the great secret of their power!" 

At first, Karl Heinrich tried, half uncon- 
sciously, to close his mind to these words, 
but the daily repetition of them, in that 
quiet sickroom, took possession of him and 
broke down all his weak efforts to combat 
them. He fought against them, but he 
was too weak, too weak, just as in every 
thing else he did. 

And everybody bowed to him. The dy- 
ing Prince was no longer master in the cas- 
tle, — no, it was he, Karl Heinrich, to whom 
they did homage. Formerly, as a young 
Prince not in special favor with His Serene 
Highness, and with the possibility of sue- 



by GoOQJc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

cession to the throne very vague and dis- 
tant, the homage of the people at Court 
had been cold and formal. Now, he was no 
longer a child, but a man; no longer an 
appUcant for the honors of an uncertain 
future, but the new master, who, in a single 
night, might assume his rights as reigning 
Prince. It was a magic circle, which closed 
round him, the humble homage of thou- 
sands who suflfered no contradiction, and all 
that in this mouldy, hothouse air, which 
killed thought ! 

Months passed. Autumn came, and Win- 
ter and Spring— a year had gone. But only 
one year ! Why, it seemed like many. There 
were times whenanoverwhelmingimpatience 
seized him. Was this never going to end ! 
This bitter, cruel waiting ! But even this 
impatience grew weak and powerless, and 
passed away. 

He was not well; his healthy color was 
gone; but, when the old professor and the 
other Doctors told him to take more ex- 
ercise in the fresh air, he shrugged his 
shoulders indifferently. 

"There is nothing the matter with me, 
I am not sick!" 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

In his writing desk lay the blue cap and 
the colored sash from Heidelberg, next to 
them three dried and faded roses— aU that 
he kept to remind him of that time. Heidel- 
berg ! When he thought of it, it seemed as 
if iron chains were bound round his chest 
and were suffocating him. 

Gone ! Lost ! Lost forever ! 

Sometimes he tried to talk with Lutz 
about Heidelberg. He did not care at all 
for the fellow, but he kept him as his valet. 
Perhaps for no other reason than that 
Lutz was the only living remembrance of 
that time. And Herr Lutz tried hard to 
meet his master half way, to picture his 
own miserable days in Heidelberg in a rosy 
light and to revive little jokes of that time. 
But his talk never sounded honest and 
true. The beautiful picture of those three 
months was distorted by his forced jokes 
into something unlovely and unreal. 

Otherwise, Herr Lutz was now the hap- 
piest man at Court. His patient endur- 
ance of that terrible time had borne golden 
fruit, he was the coming man, before whom, 
even now, all the lackeys humbled them- 
selves. The reigning Prince's valet still 

1 38 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

went through the house with a very proud 
face, but his days were numbered: "Lutz" 
was the name of the new star. While, to 
Karl Heinrich, the recollection of Heidelberg 
grew more and more dim, Kke a nursery 
story that has lost its charm, the picture 
of the students' town grew more beautiful 
to Herr Lutz. To be sure, he had kicked 
over the traces sometimes, had lived poorly 
and had gone through many disagreeable 
experiences, but, on the other hand, a great 
many nice things had happened. He told 
the chef all sorts of wonderful stories, of 
merry love affairs, of entire nights spent 
in drinking, and more "what a gentleman 
does not talk about." Heidelberg had 
made his fortune and Herr Lutz was not 
ungrateful. 

Since the end of the winter, the Doctor 
had been sleeping his last sleep in Heidel- 
berg. The notice of his death, which the 
director of the hospital communicated in a 
humble form to His Highness, did not come 
to Karl Heinrich unexpectedly, but still it 
seemed to him something incomprehensible. 

But in all his pain the Prince had that 
bitter feeUng of regret that if the Doctor 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

had died a year before, lie would have felt 
and have suffered much, much more. If 
life could ever have brought them together 
again, they would never have understood 
each other as before. He felt as if someone 
had died whom he had loved very much, 
long ago, but who was now so distant to 
him that even if he had come to life again, 
he could never have brought him back to 
be to him what he had once been. 

Commanded to do so by His Highness 
the hereditary Prince the Lord Chamber- 
lain had sent to the Korps "Saxonia" a 
beautiful wreath to be put on the grave of 
the Doctor. Later, a monument was erected 
over the grave, with the inscription: "To 
his friend and teacher, in grateful remem- 
brance. — Karl Heinrich, Prince von Karl- 
burg." 

And Katie ! 

Yes, Katie! 

Where was Katie now? He had no pic- 
ture of her, for a small photograph which 
she had given him once could not be found 
in his trunks. But her image was engraved 
in his heart. Katie ! 

Lost like all the others .... 
130 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

On the Prince's writing desk stood, in a 
gold frame, the picture ofthe young Saxon 
Princess, his cousin, whose engagement to 
Karl Heinrich had been one of the last 
wishes of the dying Prince. She was a 
handsome girl, with vivacious eyes and a 
tall magnificent figure. 

Karl Heinrich did not say "No," and the 
beautiftd Princess was not dissatisfied. She 
was a year older than the future reigning 
Prince, as children they had played to- 
gether; they had no cause to dislike each 
other, and both for reasons of State and 
because it was the wish of both families, 
the marriage would, in every w 
suitable one. 

On account of the Prince's rece 
however, the wedding could not 
place. 

Katie! .... Katie! .... 



byGooqlc 



the town and the castle, did not pass away. 
Month after month went by and still there 
lay over Court and castle a great quiet 
and sadness. 

"His Highness is still mourning," said 
the people; but they hardly believed them- 
selves in this weak excuse. 

How much they had expected of this 
young, almost too young Prince ! Happi- 
ness and new ideas, changing, at last, the 
sleepy Court and castle into a place of 
pleasure and enjoyment. Visits of foreign 
princes, balls, hunting, a ball of the citi- 
zens in the new town hall, an interest in 
the opera house, and, at any rate, a pleas- 
ant face and sympathy for the wishes of 
the town and of the land. 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

What a handsome young prince Karl 
Heinrich had been, so natural and so kind ! 
When a child, in the presence of strangers, 
he had always shown great reserve and 
diffidence, but, then he was only a child ! 

When His Serene Highness now rode 
through Karlburg, his adjutant beside him, 
he replied indiflferently and coldly to all 
salutes. He received the deputies of the 
various towns in regal style, but only made 
short answers to their speeches. During 
the past ten years, the late Prince had been 
proud, haughty and imperious, but the 
young Prince seemed to be even more so. 

The equerries and the people at Court 
comforted each other by saying : " This will 
all change when he is married,"and this de- 
lusion found an echo in the citizens : "When 
he is only married." 

The wedding was fixed for the. 30th of 
May; the solemn entrance of the princely 
couple into Karlburg would take place on 
the 4th of June. On the 5th of June a 
great torchlight procession of the citizens, 
on the 6th a great Court festival in the 
castle, receptions, audiences and festivities 
of all sorts during the following three days. 
133 



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OLD HEIDELBERG 

In the Lord Chamberlain's office they 
worked day and night, a fererish zeal pos- 
sessed castle and town, a great desire to 
prepare everything in good order. The only 
one who was, as usual, cold and indifferent 
was he in whose honor all this was being 
done. 

About twelve days before the wedding, 
something happened which, although it had 
no after consequences, kept everyone, for a 
few days, in a state of great excitement. 
A funny looking old man, in a dress-coat 
of antiquated style, was brought to the 
equerry on duty, who introduced him to 
His Excellency the Lord Chamberlain. The 
old fellow had tried, in a very unceremon- 
ious way, to gain an entrance to the castle, 
pretending all the time that he wished to 
speak with His Serene Highness. 

"The man's name is Kellermann," ex- 
plained the equerry to His Excellency, 
"and he comes from Heidelberg. He wants 
to ask a favor of His Highness, the ful- 
fillment of which His Highness had prom- 
ised him faithfully in Heidelberg." 

His Excellency the Lord Chamberlain, 
overworked and nervous, commanded them 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

to send the fellow away, to tell him to 
send in his petition in the usual way; but 
a presentiment told the equerry that His 
Highness might want to see the old man. 
During dinner, he took occasion to mention 
the matter to His Highness. 

"You say Kellermann?" 

"Yes, Your Highness, the man's name is 
Kellermann." 

"From Heidelberg?" 

"Yes, Your Highness, from Heidelberg." 

"Very well. Send the man to my room 
when dinner is over." 

With the same calm, cold expression as 
usual, the Prince finished his dinner, with- 
out imdue haste, but a flood of recollections 
almost overwhelmed him. Kellermann ! 
Heidelberg ! One of them ! To see one of 
them at last ! Even if only Kellermann ! 
Poor Kellermann ! 

Coldly and indifferently he left his equer- 
ries, went across to his library and opened 
his writing desk. There was his cap, the 
tri-colored sash, the three faded roses. . . 

The lackeys in the ante-room looked at 
each other and shook their heads. Again 
they looked at each other and again they 
135 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

shook their heads. For two hours that 
strange looking fellow had been closeted 
with His Highness and was still with him. 

If they could only have looked inside 
and seen the old man, in his shabby coat, 
sitting in His Highness' armchair, while the 
Prince had put his hand on Kellermann's 
shoulder, and was bending over him, smil- 
ing with quivering lips ! 

" This Kellermann ! He shall become my 
head cellarman ! He hasn't forgotten what 
I promised him long ago, coming even 
from Heidelberg and in a dress-suit and 
top-hat. Let me look at you, Kellermann. 
Oh, how funny ! " 

He laughed, the first time in years. 

"All right, Kellermann, you shall stay; 
you shall be ray head cellarman, that's un- 
derstood. But I expect you are hungry and 
thirsty now. When did you arrive?" He 
pressed the button: "Bring wine and food 
for this gentleman. Yes, here. No for- 
raalities ! " 

Twice he went up and down the room, 
then stopped before the old man: 

"Look at me, Kellermann. Do you still 
know me? Did you recognize me?" 
136 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

"Certainly." 

"Really? Did you?" His face grew 
sober again. For a moment he put both 
his hands to his temples and stared straight 
in front of him. "It's two years ago! 
People change so in that time, many things 
may happen in two years!" 

After a while he looked up wearily, for 
Kellermann had timidly asked him a ques- 
tion. 

"Bring your wife! Why, certainly. But 
she can't do my latmdry now, as she used 
to in Heidelberg. Or did you think she 
could?" He smiled again, and so did Herr 
Kellermann. 

"And, now, Kellermann, tell me all; 
that is, the principal things. Tell me of 
Heidelberg and of everybody." 

But this narration did not come very 
smoothly. He did not say a word of his 
own accord, but waited to be questioned; 
every question had to be put very simply, 
and only after answering that could he put 
his mind on a new subject. He was Uke 
an old chronicle, out of which facts are 
gleaned only after laborious searching, but 
he had this advantage over those old 
137 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

books ; he was more certain, and answered 
at once. 

Herr BUz was still with "Saxonia;" 
also little Hammerschmidt, who had failed 
to pass the Easter examination. Herr von 
Bansin was now the best fighter in Heidel- 
berg, remaining term after term for love of 
it ; but all the others had left, most of them 
having been gone some time. 

"Ernst von Heidenreich?" 

"Gone to Berlin." 

"Franzius?" 

"Gone to Berlin." 

"And fat Kurt Engelbrecht?" 

Herr Kellermann looked serious and said, 
in a subdued voice : 

"Gone to the other side, to America." 

Only three were left in Heidelberg ! The 
last three of that merry crew who had 
never thought of the future, who had lived 
as if they were to remain together forever ! 
And now they were scattered in all direc-- 
tions! 

The servant brought wine and food, 
which Herr Kellermann seemed to enjoy, 
and, after a long interval, he again an- 
swered the Prince's questions : where the 
138 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

Doctor was buried, and if Kellermann had 
seen the grave ; who hved now in Frau Dorf- 
fel's rooms; did they still go to the castle 
for their morning glass ; did they go every 
Monday to Neckarsteipach, as they did 
then ; was Herr Roux still the fencing master 
and what of the fights ; did the Korps fight 
in Heidelberg or in the villages, and then : 

"How is Miss Katie?" 

"Katie?" 

"Yes, Miss Katie, in Ruder's restaurant?" 
His voice broke and he blushed fiiriously. 
But Herr Kellermann did not notice any- 
thing, and answered, indifferently : 

"Yes, she is still there." 

"At Ruder's?" 

"Yes, at Ruder's." 

"And — and — how is she?" 

"She is quite well." / 

"She is still there? Just as she used to// 
be? Those who visit Ruder's still f^^^^^^^H 
there?" 

" Certainly." 

Karl Heinrich walked over to thi ^ 

window and looked out. Through t \( 

path between the rows of hme ti v^ 

yond the park, where he sawp^B.^,,^.^^ \ 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

stretdied away into the blue distance. Far 
below on the castle walls, before the broad 
moat, blossomed the lilacs, and over the 
water flew the swallows, often passing close 
to the window. 

For two lonely years he had lived here, 
far from the merry world, at the sickbed 
of a pessimistic old man, who would not 
die and who held him fast in his slowly 
numbing hands. As for himself, he had 
been too weak and too cowardly to tear 
himself away forcibly. 

Two long years ! Two years, in which 
he might have been happy ! They seemed 
to him like decades. And beyond these 
decades lay his short youth, of which he 
had scarcely thought and had now nearly 
forgotten ! Forgotten ! Only weaklings 
forget like that ! 

Heidelberg, the Korps, Katie — they were 
indistinct memories, vague as a dream, 
and now, this man had come and had 
spoken of all this again, had told him that 
everything was the same, the same as be- 
fore — that there in Heidelberg, a day's jour- 
ney, some hundred miles distant, the same 
people still Hved ! That they enjoyed their 
. . 140 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

lives, drank, laughed, loved— and aU this 
without him, just as if a Prince Karl Hein- 
rich had never existed, or, at least, had 
never been necessary to them ! 

Out of the background of the room 
sounded Herr Kellermann's voice, speaking 
for the first time without being questioned. 
Heavily and slowly, as if he was announc- 
ing some deep philosophy, about which he 
had been thinking during the last silent 
minutes, he said : 

"Heidelberg is not the same place that 
it used to be. They all say so, even Herr 
Bilz." 

"Not the same place?" 

"Not as it was once, while you were 
there." 

Karl Heinrich's eyes shone: 

"Do they say so? Do they all say so? 
Do they still talk of me in Heidelberg, 
KeUermann?" 

"Oh, yes." 

"Did nobody ever ask" — ^he took the old 
man by both shoulders and pulled him up 
— "if I would ever come back? Or why I 
didn't come back?" 

"Yes, yes, very often." 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

"And the little one— the little girl at 
Ruder's?" 

"Katie?" Herr Kellermann was a Uttle 
puzzled. Slowly he searched his memory. 
"Katie?" Suddenly a thought seemed to 
strike him, a chain of recollections opened 
in his brain, and, half talking to himself, 
he nodded his head : 

"Katie! That's right! Yes, yes! She 
has cried very much!" 

* » « « » 

"Please take care of the old man, my 
dear Excellency. The man stood near me 
during my life in Heidelberg, I should like 
to know that he is well cared for." 

The Lord Chamberlain was happy. 
Those were the first kind words His High- 
ness had ever spoken to him. And how 
curiouslythePrince had spoken! So moved. 
None of that usual cold reserve, which froze 
everything around the Prince. But, what 
had happened! "My dear Excellency!" 

His Excellency himself accompanied the 
old man to his rooms, the servants flew, 
kitchen and cellar gave their best; Herr 
Kellermann might well be satisfied ! 

But what had happened ! 
. . 142 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

At a late hour that night, the Prince 
was still up. Youth — ^his lost, forgotten 
youth— had knocked once more at the door, 
and Karl Heinrich's tired, hardened heart 
was touched. 

In a few days he would go to bring his 
bride to the castle of Kariburg, and on 
that day would begin for him the long 
years of a settled life. From that day on 
everything was clear, prescribed, calculated ; 
every step and every action planned before- 
hand ; the whole future life a straight road, 
in which there is no chance turning until 
the end is reached. The life of a citizen 
can be full of changes, foil of ups and downs, 
but that of a Prince is calculated and ad- 
justed, certain and monotonous for all time. 

Only one friend, who might sit there 
now and say; 

"It can't be helped, Karl Heinrich, you 
must bear it." 

Some one to comfort and cheer him ! 

"My God! My God!" 

He was beside himself. 

Deathly silence! 

Outside in the park the night wind 
rustled through the trees, but the castle 
143 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

slept. Karlburg slept— the town, the coun- 
try, everything was sleeping here. 

Midnight! There they sat in Ruder's 
garden in Heidelberg; they sang, drank, 
laughed, and, looking at the clock, said : 
"It's only midnight." 

And then Katie, in her white apron, 
came through the garden, yawning and 
rubbing her eyes with her Httle fists; they 
all laughed, and Karl Heinrich held up his 
glass to her : 

"Drink, Katie; wake up!" 

"Prosit, Karl Heinz! Live long and 
well!" 

Who said that! He got up, and from 
the window he looked into the dimly 
Ughted room. Who had spoken those 
words ! There, outside of the room, some- 
where ! 

"It was the Doctor's voice 1 "Prosit, 
Karl Heinz, live long and well!" 

The Prince trembled all over. He crossed 
the room, turned on the hght and emptied 
a large wineglass at one draught. 

"Live long and well!" Yes, he lived, 
and the Doctor, who had said this a thou- 
sand times, mouldered in the grave. 



byGoot^lc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

"Live long and well!" Yes, Karl Heinz 
still lived, a beautiiiil life ! 

He filled the glass again and lifted it 
up. He stared at the dark comer, raising 
the glass : 

" Doctor ! " 

And, when the dead silence continued : 
"To you!" 

Herr Lutz sat outside in the waiting- 
room fighting with sleep, for hours. Not 
since the time at Heidelberg had he been 
kept awake so late. At various times he 
Ustened at the door to see if His Highness 
while sitting at his writing-desk, had not 
been overcome by sleep, but, again and 
again, he heard the muffled steps of the 
Prince, as he walked up and down. What 
had happened ! 

But Herr Lutz could no longer think. 
He was so weary that his body seemed 
still awake, but his brain was entirely numb. 
What a good thing that the wedding was 
soon to come ofi". Then he would go to 
bed punctually and live as he should. 

At last — it was about three o'clock — he 
heard the welcome call of the bell. 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

*'AU right!" 

Herr Lutz arose and in the next moment 
he was in His Highness' room. 

The morning was breaking, and, in the 
pale light, the Prince stood at the window, 
indistinct in the grey shadows of the dawn. 

"Are you still awake, Lutz?" 

"Most certainly, Your Highness." 

"Yon mustn't go to sleep, Lutz. Wake 
up the servants, I want my trunks packed. 
Let someone inform His Excellency the Lord 
Chamberlain. I am going on a journey." 

"Going on ?" 

"You shall accompany me, you alone, 
Lutz. We are going to Heidelberg." 

"H— Heidelberg ?" 

"Only for a day or two. We shall be 
back Saturday evening. There is not a 
minute to be lost. Hurry up!" 

Herr Lutz went, his head bent low, Uke 
one who has been given a severe blow and 
who is therefore unable to think. 

Karl Heinrich still stood at the window, 
and, with a beaming face, looked out at 
the bright morning. 

"Once more!" 

"Just once more!" 
146 



byGOOQJC 



^^P3:?#ff??K: 



^. ^^;--^-^.r/ 'kJ]^^^- -^^""^^^ 



CHAPTER VIII 

^" Once more Karl Heinrich was on his way 
to Heidelberg. 

It was in May, just as it was two years 
ago. He passed the same villages, miUs, 
fields and towns as then, the train climbed 
the heights of the Main and there, there, 
in the distance, lay South Germany. 

The sun was high in the heaven, it was 
hot, almost suffocating. The Prince pulled 
the curtains down and shut his eyes; he 
was tired. He had not slept for thirty 
hours and now a reaction was replacing 
the passionate excitement of the night 
before. 

What object did he have in making this 
journey? None. What did he wailt in 
Heidelberg, anyway? They wouldn't know 
what to think in Karlburg now, and every- 
one, from Secretary of State down to the 
last stable boy, would call this journey 
the act of a madman, a stupid, rash deed, 
of whidi only a young student could be 
capable. 




byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

Nervously he put his head between his 
hands : it would be best, perhaps, to return 
and not finish this Quixotic journey. 

But, then, they would be even more sur- 
prised, and would shake their wise heads. 
Everyone in the world can allow himself 
such extravagances occasionally — everyone 
except the one hundreds of thousands look 
up to, and whose slightest action is criti- 
cised. 

It was terribly hot; he raised the blinds 
agaia and leaned far out of the window, 
so that the cloud of dust raised by the 
train whirled about his head. 

"Nothing matters!" Let those spies 
at home laugh or make fiin of him, let 
them,^to-day he, Karl Heinrich, was a free 
man! 

On, On ! How the train rushed along ! 
Farther and farther! No one could catch 
him now! The yelping pack remained far 
behind and he was free! He shut his eyes 
and let the wind blow fall in his face. That 
was good, it felt like a fight! 

Wasn't it the same sensation he had 
felt so long ago when the tall "VandaUa" 
student had struck him through his guard 
148 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

in the face, again and again ! Grand ! 
Ready for fight! 

To fight I What is there finer on God's 
earth ! Nothing more horrible than this 
slow dozing and sleeping, to be made much 
of, but still to be under guardianship and, 
worse than all else, to slowly moulder away. 

His muscles were tense almost to burst- 
ing. On ! On ! To-night in Heidelberg ! 
They had not yet subdued him in Karlburg, 
he still had the courage to make this wild, 
lawless journey! And he should be happy, 
happy for only two days, but two such 
happy days! 

"Wer reitet mit zwanzig Knappen ein 
Zu Heidelberg im Hirschen?" 

Half to himself he sang the song, then 
louder and louder, and, at last, wit^ 
iull voice: 

"Hollahehl den Hahn ins Pass ! 
ein!" 

Before him lay the sunn: 
Main. How is it the so: 



. . I see the country rou: 
lie at my feet " 




vGooqIc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

It is so beautiiul here, so beautiful! 

And he was still so young— he, Karl 
Heinz! Only twenty-two years old. The 
whole world ought to have been open to 
him, but at home they had taken his Ught 
and air, they had walled him in. 

Arrived in Frankfort, he thought for a 
moment of leaving the train. The station 
restaurant was right in front of him, and 
everyone was crowding to get in. Why 
didn't he go along with the others? He 
did it two years ago, when he went there 
with the Doctor, enjoying the new-found 
liberty. Nobody knew him excepting, per- 
haps, the gfuards and Lutz — so why 
shouldn't he? 

"Twenty minutes' stop!" the guards 
called out, and all the travelers went into 
the various parts of the station. Only a 
few elderly ladies remained in their com- 
partments. 

Karl Heinrich got up and started to 
leave, but went back again and closed the 
door. He had become more dependent on 
others than ever, more so even than two 
years ago. It was so easy to go there like 
the others, to move about quietly, to call 
150 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

the waiter, to order something and to pay — 
but, still, he could not. He could not. 
He tried once more, but a cold perspira- 
tion broke out on his forehead. The train 
had left Frankfort long since, but the 
Prince still sat back on his cushions, star- 
ing at the opposite wall, his arms hang- 
ing down weakly. 

"I am Hke a marionette, able to dance 
only when the wires are pulled. Stupid 
as a child, and as cowardly!" 

A grim smile passed across his face. He 
was running away to be free, if only for two 
days ! He who could hardly walk a step 
alone! He who knocked himself at every 
turn, looked at everything in the wrong 
light and who wouldn't be able to speak 
one natural word in Heidelberg! 

Village after village passed by. Wein- 
heim — here he had danced for half a night 
with a beautifiil blond, whose lovely hair 
hung down her back in two long braids. 

Jugeuheim. He smiled weakly. Here had 
occurred that mad aflfair with the young 
ladies ftom the convent at Darmstadt. 

And that was only two years ago ! No 
longer? 

iSi 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

Another ten minutes, eight, five, three — 
then the first houses— and now: The 
Neckar. 

His heart was nearly bursting. 

"Heidelberg!" 

"Five minutes' stop!" 

Once the Doctor, with his dry humor, 
had said: "A year's stop;" a faint smile 
passed over Karl Heinrich's face, and, lean- 
ing against the door, waiting for the guard, 
he murmured to himself: "Two days' stop 
— ^two days — two " 

He passed through the crowd, Lutz be- 
side him, and entered a carriage. He knew 
every house they passed, and even saw 
them all, but his thoughts were far away, 
were nowhere. "A year's stop" — ^that was 
all he could think of. Also that, for the 
Doctor, that " one year's stop" had become 
an eternal residence. But this thought was 
not a sentimental one, but came to him 
Uke a mathematical deduction, entering his 
head because his brain refused, just then, 
to think of something reasonable. He might 
just as well have thought: "Three times 
nine are twenty-seven." It seemed as if 
his head and his thinking powers were 
15a 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

exposed to an enormous pressure, reducing 
his brain to the si2e of a hazehiut. 

The carriage drove across the market- 
place : there was Frau Dorffel's house, with 
the six front windows behind which he 
had lived. 

He nodded stupidly to himself: "Yes, 
yes!" 

Arriving at the Hotel Prinz Carl, Herr 
Lutz whispered a few words into the head 
porter's ear, and, in a few seconds the 
whole house was in a state of excitement. 

Everybody bowed deeply when the Prince, 
with his cold, indifferent face, went up the 
stairs. Herr Lutz, looking anxiously at 
his master, gave him his arm for support, 
and the Prince leaned heavily on it, until 
they reached his rooms, where he sat down 
in an armchair. 

With closed eyes, the Prince sat there 
for some time. 

"Your Highness '* 

"What is it?" He opened his eyes and 
looked about like one just aroused from a 
long, heavy dream. 

"Your Highness should take some rest. 
Your Highness is overtired." 
1S3 



byGoot^lc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

And as the Prince stared at him, ap- 
parently without seeing or understanding 
him, he added : 

"Your Highness is in Heidelberg." 

"Yes, yes." 

A faint, tired smile passed across Karl 
Heinrich's face, a smile which Herr Lutz did 
not notice, or, at least, did not understand. 

"In Heidelberg. Quite right. Yes, I 
will go to sleep now." 

* • « • ♦ 

Dressed to perfection, the tri-colored 
sash across the low-cut dress waistcoat, 
in every way "comme il faut," the Korps 
"Saxonia," consisting of five "old gentle- 
men," ten "Burschen," and eight "foxes," 
assembled in His Highness' reception room, 
to be received by him in audience. 

It was ten o'clock in the morning. 

They stood about in groups, whispering 
to each other. Herr Bilz went fi-om one to 
another and, in his melancholy voice, gave 
the last instructions, especially to the two 
younger men. But Herr Bilz was excited 
himsdf. He had been in Heidelberg for 
twenty-four terms and had made the ac- 
quaintance of many men, but never had he 
154 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

spoken to a real reigning Prince. He 
thought of the speech with which he would 
welcome His Highness, but now found it 
stupid and absurd. Nothing was more 
difficult than this short speech. It might 
be too solemn or too cordial, too pathetic 
or too cool, by the least wrong word he 
might spoil everything. 

Again he went over to the "foxes:" 
"You keep back untU I give you a sign. 
Only speak when the Prince addresses you. 
For God's sake, Winz, look at yourself! 
What sort of a dress-coat have you got 
on?" 

"I have borrowed it," Winz said, fright- 
ened. 

"Oh, oh!" Herr Bilz's voice sounded 
even more melancholy, but he did not pur- 
sue the fatal subject. "Stay behind the 
others, let nobody see you!" 

A feeling of awe seemed to have come 
over the whole Korps. A reigning Prince 
who, in a certain sense, belonged to "Sax- 
onia," and who invited "Sasonia" to his 
rooms ! There was no other Korps in 
Heidelberg that could boast of such an 
honor. 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

Someone in a dress-coat and silk breeches 
pushed open the doors and then stepped 
solemnly aside. For a few seconds, they 
gazed into the next room; then steps were 
heard, coming across the soft carpet, and 
in the open doorway stood the Prince. 

He was dressed in a black morning 
coat. His face was pale, except that on 
his left cheek glowed two red scars. His 
right hand was raised, as if to give it to 
the first one he recognized. 

But in the room before him, all were 
bowing deeply. Herr Biiz stepped to the 
front: 

"Your Highness " 

His look encountered that of his former 
friend, who stared at him as if to say : 
"Aren't you coming? Won't you give me 
your hand? Karl Bilz! . . . 

And Herr Bilz lost his nerve : 

"Your Highness give — have — do us the 
honor-^we are all grateful— and honor, which 
everyone of us — knows how to appreciate — 
and therefore — ^we beg to welcome Your 
Highness to Heidelberg in all sincerity, 
most heartily and respectfully." 

The Prince took a step forward and 
156 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

nodded curtly. His face was cold and stern 
again. 

"Will you be kind enough, Herr Bilz, to 
introduce to me your Korps brothers." 

Herr Bilz obeyed. He got the names 
all mixed, but that didn't matter. 

And the Prince spoke to each one of 
them. 

"How many terms have you been here?'* 
"How do you like Heidelberg?" "You 
study law?" "Where do your parents 
live?" "Will you stay here for some time?" 
— and so on. 

After the introductions were over, he 
addressed Herr Bilz: 

"Will you and the other gentlemen be 
my guests for dinner? I am leaving to- 
night, so please come at three o'clock." 

He nodded curtly, bowed to the re 
them and returned to his room. 

The gentleman in dress-coat am 
breeches closed the doors— the 
was over. 

Ten carriages, in which the students 
arrived and in which they now drove 
stood most solemnly before the hotel. P| 
glowed on the young faces, and all Heii 
157 




byGoqi^lc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

berg, students and citizens, gazed after them. 
The Prince had received them in a solemn 
audience, they really were to be envied ! 

Karl Heinrich stood in the middle of his 
room, leaning heavily on the back of a 
chair. The ridiculous dream of two days 
was over. . . . 

At noon, the Prince drove, in a closed 
carriage, to the cemetery. He had fought 
with himself as to whether he ought to 
fulfill this last duty which bound him to 
Heidelberg or not, but at last his better 
self conquered, and he went. 

The grave-digger, who did not know 
him, took him to the Doctor's last resting 
place and said, excusing himself: "It is 
not in order as yet, but there is always a 
lot to do in the beginning of Spring, and we 
shall start here next week." 

"It's all right." 

The man wanted to tell him more, but 
he sent him away. 

A Httle white plant had overgrown the 
whole grave, several faded wreaths, with 
dirty silk ribbons, lay at one side, the iron 
fence stood bare and unfinished, and the 
only thing of dignity about the grave was 
158 



byGooqlc 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

the marble cross, with the mscription : 
*'To his friend and teacher, in grateful 
remembrance. — Karl Heinrich, Prince von 
Karlburg." 

For a long time, Karl Heinrich looked 
down upon this forgotten grave, which 
had certainly not been visited by anyone 
since the poor Doctor's burial. He bent 
down and broke oflf one of the silver-gfrey 
leaves, to keep it, but soon after, he took 
it thoughtlessly between his lips, and finally 
dropped it. 

It was remarkable how quietly and in- 
differently he remained at the grave of one 
who was once his friend ! Suddenly, he 
had the ridiculous feeling that the departed, 
while alive, had really often neglected his 
duty, and— look at it in whatever way you 
please — had, as a tutor, permitted himself 
extraordinary liberties. 

The terrible awakening of to-day, the 
hopelessness, the icy coldness of the past 
two years— all this rushed upon his memory. 

What, this man down there, he had been 
his only friend ! What a shame ! A drunk- 
ard, a chatter-box, a man without any 
serious thoughts whatever! 



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OLD HEIDELBERG 

And yet, the Doctor had meant well, 
he really had. 

They had spent many happy hours to- 
gether — long ago, in Karlburg, when the 
Doctor, contrary to orders, gave him cigar- 
ettes, which they smoked in a room far 
up in the tower. He smiled. And then 
here, ' in Heidelberg ! He turned to look 
for the castle, which stood forth in relief 
against the forest green. 

What a crazy fellow the Doctor was 
then ! How comically he used to play on 
a concertina, so that all the Englishmen 
stopped to listen, their staid British faces 
breaking into smiles. 

"Prosit, Karl Heinz, live happy and 
well!" The Doctor's eternal toast. 

The Prince bowed his head over the 
neglected grave : "Poor Doctor!" 

He took the faded wreaths and put 
them outside the railing. With both hands 
he pulled out the weeds which grew a foot 
high between grave and fence, and threw 
them out, also. He worked for more than 
half an hour to clear the narrow paths 
round the grave inside the enclosure. 

When he had finished, he sighed deeply. 



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OLD HEIDELBERG 

How much nicer and brighter it looked 
now! He took off his soiled gloves and was 
going to throw them out with the wreaths 
and weeds, but, instead of doing so, he 
folded them and put them in his pocket. 

When, half an hour later, he left the 
cemetery, he felt better. And if this journey 
of yesterday and to-day to Heidelberg had 
been to no purpose, his time had not been 
entirely lost. The hour at the Doctor's 
grave alone was worth it all. 

The conversation at the dinner table 
was not a lively one, but it was not the 
fault of the host. Karl Heinrich sat in the 
center, next to Karl Bik, who was slowly 
overcoming his embarrassment and who 
had nothing else to do but to tell of the 
past two years. Twice the Prince raised 
his glass to him: "To your health, my 
dear Bilz ! " After the third course, the 
Senior arose and, at the end of a short 
speech, called upon the Korps "to drink to 
the health of him, who, being a member 
of "Saxonia," famishes the brightest spot 
in the history of the Korps, now and for all 
time. His Highness proves, by his presence 



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OLD HEIDELBERG 

among us, that he remembers with pleasure 
the happy time which I and all those who 
took part in it, will never forget." 

A jubilant "Hoch" rang through the 
room, the waiters rushed round the tables 
with champagne, the glasses clicked, and, 
bowing on all sides, touching his glass 
Ughtly with those of his neighbors, the 
Prince stood in the midst of them all. 

They all grew Uvelier, and when, shortly 
before dinner was over, the Prince raised 
his glass, and, after a few friendly words, 
saluted the Korps with "Saxonia, vivat, 
floreat, crescat, in aetemum ! "^the spell 
was broken. He was surrounded and cheered 
by everybody. 

But this was at the height of the excite- 
ment, which could not continue long. Every- 
one grew quiet again. His Highness was 
certainly very affable, very kind and very 
nice, but even the most foolish "fox" felt 
that there was a line drawn somewhere. 
This soon showed itself. The conversation 
touched on the departure of the Prince. 
He looked at his watch and said that he 
would have to leave in about an hour's 
time. But they all expressed a great deal 



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OLD HEIDELBERG 

of regret and begged Hm to stay that 
evening. Such a beautiful evening, too. 
They would go to the castle or to Neckar- 
gemund or take a trip on the Neckar, with 
music and Japanese lanterns! 

The Prince smiled, but a Uttle coldly 
and constrainedly. The well-meant but 
rather exaggerated urging became so gen- 
eral that, at last, he consented to stay. 
But from that time on, he sat there, quiet 
and mute, Hke one who has gone too far. 
And everybody seemed to recognize the fact. 
A general sentiment of restraint seemed to 
overspread the table, conversation became 
quieter, stopped, started again with diffi- 
culty, and finally stopped altogether. The 
heated faces looked stupid and the wine 
in the glasses remained untouched. 

They took coflFee at the castle, and up 
there, in the fresh air, the Prince became 
quite unconstrained again. It was a day 
of continually changing sentiments. A band 
was playing, all around sat the families of 
the Heidelberg professors and citizens, the 
ladies giving all their attention and looks to 
the young Prince. He knew most of them 
by sight; he had danced with the young 
163 



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OLD HEIDELBERG 

lady over there in Jugenheim, she blushed 
fiiriously when he looked at her. Here, 
there, everywhere — well known faces. 

The President of the University passed 
with his ladies, the Korps saluted, so did 
Karl Heinrich, and the President, who did 
not know him, returned the salute indif- 
ferently. 

Just as it used to be ! 

Towards evening, the Prince strolled with 
his Korps along the hills and meadows of 
the Neckar. A deep peace had come over 
him. Herr Bilz walked beside him, talking 
of past events ; he heard the voices of the 
others close behind him, but the words and 
sounds seemed to come from a distance. 
He felt like a tired wanderer who has but 
a day to rest. To-morrow he must go 
away, never to return to the students, to 
Heidelberg. He felt this without regret. 
They had all been very friendly and atten- 
tive, but, on the whole, he was a stranger 
to them. Instead of the old "Du" and 
"Karl Heinrich," it was now the stiff "Your 
Highness." He would not regret this day, 
for it had once more renewed his youth — 
not, however, in the golden sunshine of 
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OLD HEIDELBERG 

the mommg, but in the dull light of 
evening. 

Once or twice he glanced at Karl Bilz. 
Years ago they had done the same foolish 
things, had drunk and fought together, 
said "du" to each other, and to-day, this 
same Karl Bilz walked beside him Uke a 
guide, relating matters of interest to His 
Highness out of the chronicles of Heidel- 
berg. 

No ! He ought to have gone ! And 
to-day ! Viewing it in the proper light, he 
felt that this day had slowly killed all the 
recollections of his youth and that they 
would never be revived. 

Not one word from the warm heart of 
a friend, not one who would say: "You 
have been our good friend and we all loved 
you. To-day you are raised far above us^ 
but we shall always think of you, we willl 
never forget you! We have been young U 
together ! " 

But, nothing, nothing ! ! 

"Over there is Neckargemund,' 
Herr Bilz. 

"Yes, Neckargemund." 

Late in the evening, they returned to 
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OLD HEIDELBERG 

Heidelberg in six boats. The musicians 
in the first boat played the eternal student 
songs, which, to those who hear them 
every day, sound so tiresome, but which 
go right to the heart of one who hears 
them again after long years. 

The Prince sat in the second boat, his 
hand touching the water. After the heavy 
rain of the week before, the Neckar was 
very swift, so that they soon reached Heid- 
elberg. In the distance, they saw, on the 
right bank, a wall lighted up by Japanese 
lanterns. "There is Ruder's restaurant," 
said Herr Bilz. 

"Where?" Karl Heinrich started. 

" Over there." And, after a few moments, 
Herr Bilz added; "The Korps do not 
visit Ruder's place any more, or very rarely. 
But Your Highness remembers Ruder? We 
spent many a night together there." 

"Why don't the Korps visit Ruder's any 
more?" 

" Well, there is no real cause. It is, here 
in Heidelberg as, perhaps, everywhere, a 
matter of fashion. It may be that the 
beer was no longer good. The Korps go 
to Neckargemund now." 
i66 



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OLD HEIDELBERG 

"Indeed!" 

And it happens there is very little to do 
at Ruder's now. New customers are not 
found so easily." 

The Prince did not answer. Out of the 
dark night, which lay over the Neckar, the 
lanterns came nearer. They were poor 
miserable lanterns, with small Hghts, sway- 
ing in the breeze. The wall reached out 
of the stream, massive and strong, while 
the lime trees in the feebly lighted garden 
shone in their pale green. The music in the 
first boat had stopped — only the splashing 
of the oars and individual words from the 
boat behind broke the silence. 

Now the Prince's boat was passing the -c^ 
wall. He got a glimpse of the garden, 
which was nearly empty. On the right and 
farther back, sat a few people, and close to 
the wall stood a female figure, which, in 
the darkness, could be seen only in outline. 

And slowly the lanterns disappeared, the 
boats drifted down stream. 

Ruder's restaurant. Then it disappeared 
in the night. Ruined also, also faded. 

The music started again in the first 
boat, loud, shrill: "Light Cavalry!" 
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OLD HEIDELBERG 

Then the Prince started up, a cold per- 
spiration breaking out on his forehead. 

"Turn back!" 

"What?" Herr Bilz and the four others 
in the boat were surprised. 

"Tell them to turn back. To Ruder' s." 

"To ?" 

"Yes." 

Herr Bilz was so surprised that for a 
moment he did not know what to do. But 
the others called out : 

" Music ! Turn back ! " 

With a loud discord, the music stopped, 
the other boats came up out of the dark, 
there was a lot of calling and questioning : 
" Turn back ! To Ruder's ! ! " They had to 
be careful not to tip each other over. It 
took some time for the procession to get 
into order again, and rowing hard against 
the stream, they returned. 

The music started, "Old Heidelberg, 
how beautiful," the lanterns grew more and 
more distinct, then they saw a commotion 
in the garden, Herr Ruder running excitedly 
to the landing bridge, and there 

Katie! 

There she was ! She put her hand over 



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OLD HEIDELBERG 

her eyes, to peer more easily into the dark- 
ness. She waited quietly and let the musi- 
cians' boat, which made room for the others, 
pass her. 

At last, she recognized the caps. 

"The Saxonians ! At last you are com- 
ing back ! " 

The first to jump ashore was Karl Bilz ; 
she gave him her hand : 

"You are such bad boys not to come 
here any more." 

Then — her eyes opened wide, she took 
a step backward, as if a ghost out of the 
dark Neckar had appeared before her— then 
a scream, a scream which pierced every- 
thing and everybody: 

"Karl Heinz!" 

Everything was deathly still, not a word 
was spoken, only the Neckar roared and 
tossed the last boat violently against the 
beams of the landing : 

"You! You!! You!!!" 

She held him firmly and pressed close 
to him, close to his face. 

It was a singular night, this last night 
in Heidelberg. With glowing and happy 
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OLD HEIDELBERG 

eyes, the young students looked at Karl 
Heinrich of Karlburg, who again wore cap 
and sash and sat among them, young as 
they themselves. They all seemed to under- 
stand now, what this night meant for him, 
who to-day, in bright daylight, had been 
so cold and silent. 

A last night! 

The band was playing, and, with a 
bright smile, which looked a little out of 
place on his sorrowful face, Herr Kuder 
walked up and down ; outside of the hedge 
again stood the boys and girls of the neigh- 
borhood, who, for a long time, had missed 
the music in Ruder's garden. 

Everything would turn out now for the 
best. All the students would come back 
every day, even more than formerly. He 
would have a memorial plate made, with 
the name of his distinguished guest, in 
remembrance of this day. And then— he 
could scarcely think — what good business 
would come. 

"My darling Katie!" 
Karl Heinrich put his arm round her 
neck, as they sat in the shadow of the 
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OLD HEIDELBERG 

two old lime trees. In the distance, they 
saw the well lighted garden, where Hen- 
Ruder, though his guests had been there 
for hours, was still having new lanterns 
put up. 

It was no longer the little, sweet Katie 
of long ago. There was a strange, sad, 
almost an aged expression on her face ; but 
Karl Heinrich and the girl held each other 
closely, like two who have once more found 
each other only to say good-bye forever. 

They did not talk much, they never had 
spoken much to each other. They said 
but little of the past two years, and the 
future was only just touched upon. What 
could they say about it! 

She had read in the newspapers that he 
was to marry, and marry very soon; she 
knew it was inevitable. 

"And you, Katie?" 

"I am going back to Austria, Karl 
Heinz. Franzl writes me every three months 
to come back, he will marry me now." 

Silently they sat close to each other, 
but from time to time she whispered, as 
she kissed him: "Karl Heinz," and he 
murmured back: "Katie." 



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OLD HEIDELBERG 

They exchanged their meagre reminis- 
cences: "Do you still know?" "Do you 
remember when?" — all of no importance 
whatever, but which appeared, in this last 
hour, as beautiful as though they came 
from wonderland. 

"Do you remember the day, Karl Heinz, 
when you went away?" 

"Yes, my darling." 

"And when you said: 'I am coming 
back!' And now you have come back." 

He held her on his lap and rocked her 
slowly back and forth, lost in a dream. 
She, the only one he had found again in 
Heidelberg, the only one to remind him of 
his youth ! 

"Katie?" 

"What, dear?" 

"We will always love each other. I shall 
never forget you and you won't forget me. 
We will not see each other again, but we 
will not forget. Katie ! I shall never for- 
get you, never! never! ! never! ! !" 

The music had stopped long ago, they 
had not noticed it. 

The garden was empty, the students had 
gone, they had seen nothing. They had 
172 



byGOOQJC 



OLD HEIDELBERG 

tactfully saved Karl Heinrich the saying 
of good-bye. 

One after another of the lanterns went 
out, but Herr Ruder kept faithful guard 
on the veranda. There was no sound but 
the roar of the Neckar. 

Hour after hour passed, until the first 
cock crowed and the grey morning shadows 
were gliding over the river. 

Hand in hand they left the garden for 
the quiet road. Katie went with him for 
a hundred yards, up to the spot where the 
first gardens of the town begin. 

Then they stood and embraced for the 
last time. 

" Katie " 

"Karl Heinz " 

He looked back once more, bef 
winding of the road shut her from 
There Katie stood, leaning against 
her arms hanging down weakly. H 
no longer recognize her face; she c 
move, she lifted no hand. 

It was Sunday morning. 



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